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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-03 Daily Xml
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APY Lands Mental Health Services

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (14:31): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Does the government intend to implement any recommendations of the Chief Psychiatrist's review of the children's mental health services on the APY lands and, if so, what are they? Sir, with your leave and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr WHETSTONE: A review by the Chief Psychiatrist into the APY lands mental health services was released in December of 2021, with the former government agreeing to implement all recommendations. SA Health's new model of care document fails to mention the Chief Psychiatrist's review.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:32): I really appreciate getting this question from the member for Chaffey because it allows me the opportunity and four good minutes to talk about the comments that the member for Chaffey made about this subject this morning and the absolute gross hypocrisy on a scale that I have yet to see in my time in parliament from the member for Chaffey.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, there is a point of order from the member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Just because the member feels like he wants to talk about something, doesn't mean—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Badcoe, order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —standing order 98 allows him to. In talking about the member's comments in the media without direct reference to the question that was asked, he is in breach of standing order 98.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I observe we are only seconds into the answer. It has been the practice to permit a degree of compare and contrast—other Speakers have described it as context, and I adopt that phrase myself. However, it did appear that debate was about to ensue. Minister, I draw your attention to standing order 98 and I give you the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Of course, this is an issue that has come about because of what happened a few years ago. What happened was that the CAMHS services in the APY lands stopped—they were stopped completely. There were no services and, in fact, the previous government's model for providing these services was going to be providing them telehealth. Kids on the APY lands could get—

Mr Whetstone: That's not true.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: It is absolutely true.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: The member for Chaffey says, 'That's not true.'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: He did.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Premier is called to order. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: I can provide the house with some facts. It was July 2021 that I am advised was last time that those services were provided on the APY lands.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is called to order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Apparently, July 2021 was when COVID happened, according to the opposition.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Flinders knows better.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: I thought it was Love Actually everywhere.

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is called to order. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: July 2021, those services stopped on the APY lands and I have been very concerned, as has the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in the other place, about what was being proposed in terms of an idea that we would have telehealth services. It has been a gap of 14 months until we have been able to get some of those services back onto the APY lands, providing mental health care for those kids who need it. I do significantly worry about what the impact of that 14-month gap has been in terms of the provision of those important mental healthcare services on the APY lands.

Mr Whetstone: What have you done?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: The member for Chaffey says what have we done.

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: We are trying to repair the damage that was made by ripping those services out.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Those services were ripped out in 2021. We are now working to put them back, and the member for Chaffey is complaining about the speed or the accuracy in terms of how we are trying to repair the damage that was done. We are working as hard and as fast as we can to make sure that we can get appropriate APY lands mental health services for kids back in place. There is still work being done in relation to the full model of care.

I note there have been some comments from the Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People today. I have asked the CEO of the Women's and Children's Health Network, Ms Lindsey Gough, today to meet with April to discuss those concerns. She has agreed to do that as soon as possible. As I said, the exact finalisation of that model of care is underway but, from a government perspective, our desire is to have as many of those on-the-ground services in place as possible, and we regard it completely unacceptable that we had 14 months without any on-the-ground services for kids' mental health on the APY lands.

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