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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 8 Hansard (20 August) . . Page.. 2945 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

ACT government department has been, I think, outstanding. In the constituent inquiries that have come to me, where they have become difficult or complex to resolve, the response has been immediate by government officials and by the recovery task force to those issues. I would have to say that we are, I think, best practice when it comes to recovery. When you look at what other jurisdictions provide, they do not even come close in terms of the comprehensiveness of the response.

Mr Smyth suggests that there has to be an assessment of the needs for counselling for people. He is right to say that the emotional impact, the impact on someone's mental health or overall wellbeing, is still an ongoing issue, even nearly 10 months after the fire. That is why ACT Health is continuing to address this important issue in regard to counselling services.

An additional 100 hours a week of counselling is currently being provided by ACT Health to provide assistance to those who need further counselling and support following the fires. It is difficult to estimate the full extent to which people are seeking counselling, given that many people are seeking counselling through private counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists. But anecdotally it is quite clear that there has been an increase in the number of people seeking assistance through private counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists, and the government is providing counselling services as well, to the tune of an additional 100 hours a week.

The government is responding on this important issue and continues to talk with professional bodies which represent counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists, to understand the level of community demand. We are also speaking with the Division of General Practice because quite often it is the GP who is the first point of call when someone is looking for some additional support and assistance. So we do have contacts with the other professional bodies to gauge what is happening, to gauge the level of demand, to gauge the level of need for a service and respond appropriately, and the government is providing those important services in relation to people's mental health.

Mr Speaker, fundamentally for me, what is important about this event of January 18 is that our response to it demonstrates that we can work together in a collaborative way to address the issues that have been raised. We may have disagreement on some issues, particularly on structures and new organisations. (Extension of time granted.) But, fundamentally, we can be either negative or positive on the issue. What we saw yesterday in question time and what we saw today in the first part of the debate on this censure motion was simply an attempt to point the finger. It is not constructive, it does not serve any useful purpose in the recovery and it certainly does not address the needs of people needing support as a result of the bushfires.

The government has nothing to hide and the government has hidden nothing when it comes to what happened on January 18. We have accepted in full every recommendation put forward by the independent inquiry into the operational response. I do not want to pre-empt our response to the coronial inquest, but I think that it would be fair to say that our approach will be consistent in that regard as well.

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