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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-06-24 Daily Xml
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APY Lands

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding mental health services.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The 2018-19 annual report of the Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee, tabled in this place yesterday, states:

CAMHS staff estimate that 80 per cent of children in the APY lands have exposure to or continue to experience problem sexual behaviour.

The report further states that young people are rarely able to disclose the problem sexual behaviour in the forensic setting, such as to police or child protection, for a range of reasons, including the risk of suicide. The opposition has been advised that both of the full-time Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service clinicians who are based on the APY lands will be forced to return to Adelaide at the start of the next financial year and there will be cuts to the Anangu mental health consultants, the 'Malpas', who work with them.

My question to the minister is: will cuts to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands potentially lead to greater self-harm and potentially increase suicide amongst some of the most at-risk youth in South Australia?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:22): I will certainly seek information in relation to the issues the honourable member raises. I would stress that this government has announced in this week's budget a $163.5 million investment in mental health services. That is a landmark investment in mental health. That investment will provide a significant staged rollout of the 2019 Mental Health Services Plan, and certainly the mental health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is a key part of that plan.

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