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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 584 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 13 October 2021 by Ms L. Mettam

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

MENTAL HEALTH — PREVENTIVE SERVICES

584. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:

I have a supplementary question. Why does this government continue to prioritise hospital-based services, with 47 per cent of the budget, over community support and treatment options, when advocates and numerous reviews and reports tell us that hospital is not the best place for treatment and more needs to be spent on prevention, which the government is not doing?

Mr R.H. COOK replied:

It is clear that the opposition wants us to cut mental health services in our hospitals. It is clear that the opposition is not prepared for a government to respond to the demand on our emergency departments. It is clear that the opposition is of the view that we can cut mental health services in our hospitals and that will somehow magically lead to patients not requiring that health care. What sort of la-la land does the opposition live in? I mean, really. We are facing significant pressure in our hospitals and EDs at the moment. It is not because there is not significant investment in our community mental health services. There is more investment than ever before. The last thing we need is the opposition continuing to undermine the public's confidence in our health services and advocating that we cut mental health services in our EDs. That is just pure bloody public policy vandalism.