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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-06-18 Daily Xml
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Mental Health Services

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:06): Does the minister accept that the Mental Health Coalition is not a lone voice in its concerns but, rather, that the same concerns have been raised by a number of NGOs in relation to the transition, or the cuts, or whatever we are going to call them—the 25 per cent transitional amount that he refers to?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:06): Let me be very clear: I do not criticise anybody for recognising the challenge. It's a challenge for mental health providers, it's a challenge for disability providers and, no doubt, it's a great challenge for a significant number of people with mental illness and other disabilities, but what I object to is misrepresentation, to having statements with #StopCutsToMentalHealth and petitioned website pages with the banner 'stop cuts to mental health', when it is not a cut: it's a transfer of funding. The honourable member might say, 'Well, toughen up, this is politics,' but this is a message that is going out to very vulnerable South Australians. They are concerned about the continuity of the support that they rely on to help them cope in life.

We certainly want to work with NGOs and with people with disabilities to make sure that we deliver on what this state signed up for. The state signed up for a national disability insurance scheme that would provide significant opportunities for people with mental illness. In fact, far from being a cut for those people transitioning, let's remember that, through the NDIS, it is not capped at the other side. In other words, the money transfers but their entitlement is assessed under the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and the money that's made available within that scheme could mean that they will have significantly enhanced support. That is certainly the aspiration of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

As minister, and this government, we stand ready, willing and able, particularly through the good officers of the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist, to work with NGOs and to work with clients to manage this transition, but all we ask is: let's talk about the facts. Let's deal with the reality of what our clients and our NGOs are experiencing.

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