Page 3134 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 12 September 1990
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Mental Health Crisis Care Service
MS MAHER: My question is directed to the Minister for Health, Education and the Arts. Has the Minister provided insufficient funds for the establishment of a mental health crisis service in the ACT, as implied by Mr Berry?
MR HUMPHRIES: I thank Ms Maher for her question; it is a timely one. The ACT will soon have - - -
Mr Berry: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. This is another ministerial statement. A ministerial statement on the same subject will be delivered after question time, and it would be timely for Mr Humphries to deal with it then.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Berry, I do not know how you can tell what Mr Humphries is going to say in advance.
Mr Berry: He told me. I was informed formally by the Government.
MR SPEAKER: The rest of us have not had that privilege. Please proceed, Mr Humphries.
MR HUMPHRIES: I did no such thing. Mr Speaker, the ACT will soon have a mental health crisis service designed specifically for the needs of the Territory. Building on the strengths of our health services and striving to address acknowledged deficiencies, it will be a major event in the lives of those who suffer mental health problems and their care-givers. The cost of introducing this service was never going to be small, and it gave me great pleasure, in the context of a tight budgetary environment, to be able to announce yesterday the establishment funding of the service.
Unfortunately, the Labor Opposition has again taken the opportunity to demonstrate its total lack of financial management skills. Mr Berry yesterday issued a statement saying that our $211,000 was inadequate to establish an effective service, in spite of the fact that, as Minister, he had offered a meagre $150,000 to establish a service.
Further, Mr Berry seems to think that financial years start on budget day. The fact is that the $211,000 in the budget is for only the remainder of the 1990-91 financial year and the establishment costs of the service. The full year funding, as explained in my press release on this matter, will be in the order of $280,000. If Mr Berry cannot understand the budget processes, I would advise him to read my press release.
I am confident that the service which is to be established will be effective at helping people with a psychiatric disability cope in the community. It will be evaluated within the first year to show that it does. Although tempted to go on, I do not think that ministerial statements in question time will, as Mr Berry says, address
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