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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-05 Daily Xml
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Mental Health Services

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:21): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing about health. Can the minister point to a single new measure to come out of last Wednesday's mental health meeting with Adjunct Professor Mendoza, and can the minister point to a single dollar of additional funding arising from last week's mental health meeting?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:21): I thank the honourable member for his question, because it is really a good opportunity to highlight the constructive discussions that were held last week. Whilst there is much more to be delivered in terms of our Mental Health Services Plan, as I said yesterday, it is very pleasing for the government to be continuing to roll out the Mental Health Services Plan after a seven-year hiatus since the last plan by the previous government.

Last week's workshop was a key event for a broad range of stakeholders to come together to progress mental health reform. The Marshall Liberal government shares the passion of the group for mental health reform. While the workshop demonstrated significant support for the direction of the Mental Health Services Plan, it also heard the calls for action in the short term to respond to increased pressure in mental health services, emergency departments and ambulance services.

The government is in the process of finalising some short-term measures that will be announced shortly. It also will be continuing to do what it has been doing since the first day we were elected, which is to—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter interjecting:

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —steadily roll out initiatives in relation to mental health services. There is an echo in the chamber suggesting this government has done nothing in mental health services, so let me just mention a few.

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Mr Hunter!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Just let me let me mention a few. What about the borderline personality disorder service—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —that the consumers were demanding for years and the former Labor government ignored it?

The Hon. I.K. Hunter interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Mr Hunter!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the Hon. Kelly Vincent and the Hon. Tammy Franks in advocating for a borderline personality disorder service.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Mr Hunter!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: We committed to that service, and it was delivered.

The Hon. T.A. Franks: And the Labor Party wouldn't even recognise borderline personality disorder.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon Ms Franks is not helping.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I've heard it said that the Labor Party wouldn't even recognise that borderline personality disorder—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: You don't even know if the ambulances turn up on time or not. You don't even bother to ask the questions.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Hunter should dip back into his own memory.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: So we have done the borderline personality disorder service. What about that we have committed to a paediatric eating disorder service, and that is in the process of being rolled out.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister will continue in silence.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: So we have done the borderline personality disorder service, and we have talked about the paediatric eating disorder service. What about the urgent mental health care service, which was opened two months ago?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter is out of order.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: An exemplary contemporary service to provide urgent care for people with mental health. So those who say that we have done nothing in mental health—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: What are the outcomes? Tell us!

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: That was the question!

The PRESIDENT: Order! You might like to listen to the answer.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The fact of the matter is, this government has continued to implement mental health reform even in the absence of a plan that the former government left empty, left vacant for seven years. We kept developing reform.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: What was this outcome?

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: In November 2019, we released the Mental Health Services Plan. We have been diligently implementing it. The workshop last week was a great opportunity to take stock. What was very clear from the workshop is that people wanted to continue on the pathway laid down by—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —the Mental Health Services Plan. There is certainly a lot of work to be done to implement it. We are committed to work with the consumers, carers and clinicians to deliver the outcomes they need.

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