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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-07-11 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE: JAMES NASH HOUSE REDEVELOPMENT

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (11:19): I move:

That the 441st report of the committee, entitled James Nash House Redevelopment, be noted.

This proposal comprises a new 10-bed ward for the forensic mental health facility at James Nash House, landscaping and associated works, security and infrastructure works and sustainment works on the existing James Nash House facility. The total capital cost budgeted for this project is $19 million.

The redevelopment of James Nash House is intended to provide SA Health with a facility that will meet the future needs of consumers and staff and enable service synergies and enhanced collaboration between functions within the house environment and across SA Health. The facility will include a purpose-built stand-alone 10-bed facility with its own secure perimeter that delineates it from the existing James Nash House facility, thus providing a stepped approach to rehabilitation, recovery and accommodation.

The committee was lucky enough to visit James Nash House recently and to see the site. It is going to be a very good facility. It will be contemporary in style, yet robust enough to ensure the safety of patients, staff and visitors. There will be single bedrooms and ensuites that exceed the outdated accommodation at the Grove Closed Ward at Glenside and provide a sense of privacy for the patients. There will be access to courtyards and views that will allow patients to engage with the environment whilst in a secure environment. There will be internal space that provides multipurpose rooms for rehabilitation activities and daily active living skills to enhance recovery and to promote community living. There will be co-location of all forensic mental health services, ensuring streamlining of services and movement within the campus and ease of access to and for patients, staff and visitors.

The key objectives for the redevelopment are to co-locate mental health services in line with the statewide forensic mental health service plans; enable the sale of Glenside precinct 5 as part of the Glenside redevelopment plan; provide appropriate and safe accommodation for forensic mental health consumers, including vulnerable minority consumer groups (for example, women and Indigenous consumers); improve functionality of plant and office space availability at James Nash House to optimise service delivery and health outcomes; re-engineer services to maximise integration, coordination and responsiveness on the one campus; and enable future expansion of the James Nash House forensic mental health facility in accordance with the master plan, if and when required.

The project is to be complete by September 2013. Given this, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to the parliament that it recommends the proposed public works.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:21): The opposition supports this project, it supported it in committee and it supports it in this place today. The chair of the committee, Mr Odenwalder, adequately put the points in favour of the development. From a personal point of view, I found the visit to James Nash House most interesting. I was most impressed with its relative informality and the relationships between the staff and patients. It was an opportunity for us to talk with some of the patients. One amusing anecdote was when we walked in and the member for Waite was approached by a patient who said to him, 'Mr Weatherill, I am pleased to see you.' Whether that is a taste of things to come I am not sure. However—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: It could be.

Mr PENGILLY: I beg your pardon?

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: It could be.

Mr PENGILLY: Yes. It really opened up my eyes. There is a difference between our prison institutions and James Nash House, given that it is run by the Department for Health and Ageing and not Correctional Services. It is quite different; it is quite a different facility. I guess the usual sterility of these facilities and their, to some extent, run-down nature is indicative of what they are. I think the fact that we are going to put in another 10 beds out there is a very useful exercise. Again, we support the project.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (11:23): I support this redevelopment. I make the point, in the wider context, that I do not think that, as a society and as a parliament, governments, over time, have adequately addressed the issue of mental health and how it relates to criminal and antisocial behaviour. Once again, it is the old theme of early intervention. I am not an expert but I understand that most people suffering from personality disorders are untreatable, but anyone who has spent any time looking at how the court system operates will know that there is a constant cavalcade of people fronting the courts who obviously have some psychological or psychiatric problem. The police themselves are confronted every day with dealing with people who suffer in one way or another from a psychiatric or psychological condition.

The sad reality is that there will always be some people who have to be constrained and restrained and kept in a secure facility. I know of one character who has been in James Nash House for a long time, a lad who grew up near to where I did. He has spent most of his adult life incarcerated, and it is a very sad thing to observe.

I support this proposal. It does not tackle the root cause of the problem, but it is necessary to deal with some people who are not able or, in some cases, are unwilling to behave appropriately and be effective members of the wider community. I commend this project and once again encourage the government and the parliament to focus on some of the underlying causes and make a commitment to treat, where possible, some of these disorders before they result in criminal behaviour.

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (11:25): As James Nash House is in my electorate, I have watched what has been happening with it for many years. There were proposals quite some time ago to redevelop the centre, so I am really quite pleased that this is now going to occur. I think we are going to have a much better facility for people to be cared in, so I support the proposal.

Motion carried.

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