Page 1360 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2011
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In relation to mental health, we are aware of members of the ACT community who have gone to stay at a community organisation called Home, in Queanbeyan. They have gone there because there is nowhere available or suitable in Canberra. There have been problems when those people became unwell and they were subject to New South Wales mental health treatment orders. They have been taken to Goulburn to stay at its mental health acute wards, rather than to Canberra Hospital and Calvary. This affects patients’ continuity of care and ability to access known and trusted health professionals in a time of crisis. I am not satisfied that we have got a completely satisfactory outcome in this area and I believe there needs to be further work done on it to ensure that people who are having a crisis are properly assisted.
Given the high rates of housing stress in Canberra, if you are looking at housing in Canberra, we are aware that people from Canberra have to be sent interstate when they become homeless. Many of them have gone to Goulburn and some as far away as Albury. We have recently received confirmation from the government that the sending of people interstate does not affect their status on the Housing ACT waiting list in that they will still be eligible. That is important and an outcome which we would expect to occur.
However, we remain concerned that Canberrans must go interstate in the first place to access homelessness services, and much more has to be done to provide emergency accommodation and relieve bottlenecks in our system, in recognition of the growing number of people becoming homeless because they cannot access affordable, secure and safe accommodation. The government recently announced the release of an additional nine dwellings for temporary accommodation but this is nowhere near enough.
On the issue of water, perhaps one of the clearest and most pressing issues that involve good cross-border relations is water and particularly the management of the Murray-Darling Basin. For too long, it has been the case that downstream states have pointed the finger upstream and vice versa. The cause of the problem has always been the state next door. And states’ interests have always trumped the interests of holistic water management that would benefit the community and the environment.
Put simply, because we have not had good cross-border work on water, the catchments in the Murray-Darling have become over-allocated. Now science is telling us we are taking too much water out and not leaving enough for the environment. It is well known this over-allocation has come to a head recently and we have had the Murray-Darling Basin Authority recommend a new approach to water management so that we can resolve these issues.
Another point on water was made here last week, when we considered just how important cross-border relations are for the management of Lake Burley Griffin. And this is a very visible example of the need for a coordinated approach to resolve an issue and improve amenity for ACT residents. I truly hope that this is going to have a good outcome.
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