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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-05-10 Daily Xml
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Oakden Mental Health Facility

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:33): Supplementary to that, sir: when the Oakden Older Persons Mental Health Service failed a significant number of its commonwealth aged-care accreditation standards in December 2007, did the Premier, as the minister for ageing, raise any concerns with the then minister for mental health, the Hon. Gail Gago?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:33): No; as you can see, it was dealt with by the minister in the way in which she set out in a ministerial statement. The minister for mental health, as she then was, the Hon. Gail Gago, responded to the failure of a number of accreditation standards by commissioning ACH to undertake essentially a contractual arrangement for three years to work closely with the facility to ensure that its standards were lifted. Indeed, she reported the fact of the failure of the accreditation and the steps that she had been taking in very short measure to the parliament in the other place.

What we now know, from the ministerial statement that was given by the minister the other day, is that minister Hill, who was the relevant minister at the time in 2011, received a cabinet briefing note that suggested that the ACH contract for three years had been successful, that the accreditation had been formally restored, that a new culture had been developed, that new leadership had been developed and that there was confidence the facility was back on track.

That was what, essentially, the government, through its ministers, understood about this facility at that time, and it was appropriate that responsibility for that was taken by the relevant portfolio ministers. It's a misunderstanding of the ageing portfolio to suggest that it had any responsibility for what was a highly specialised mental health care and aged-care facility within the health network.

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