MENTAL HEALTH COURT
1240. Hon ALISON XAMON to the Leader of the House
representing the Attorney General:
I refer to page 56 of the Department
of Justice's ''Annual Report 2019/20'' and the heading ''Mental
Health Court (Start Court and Links)''.
(1) Why did the
government not guarantee longer term funding for the court?
(2) Does the government intend to
expand the court to regional areas?
(3) If no to (2), why not?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) The
government has requested that a joint business case between the Mental Health
Commission and the Department of Justice be submitted to the next budget
process to secure recurrent funding for the court.
(2)–(3) The
newly established Western Australian Office of Crime Statistics and Research,
in the Department of Justice, is developing an evaluation framework for the
Mental Health Court. The government will consider whether the court should be
expanded following its evaluation.