The ACT’s Chief Psychiatrist is investigating the stabbing attacks that took place at ANU in September – but the Canberra Liberals insist that the government release the full report.
Ed Cocks, Shadow Minister for Mental Health, has criticised the Minister for Mental Health, Emma Davidson, after reports that the Labor-Greens government has no intention of releasing the full report into the events surrounding the stabbing of ANU students by an admitted patient of the ACT mental health system.
The report of the Special Purpose Quality Assurance Committee (QAC) will be provided to the responsible Director General before the end of 2023, Ms Davidson said yesterday. However, it will not be released publicly, due to the strict privacy of protected information provisions under the Health Act 1993. Advice will be sought from the Chief Psychiatrist to consider what information can be released publicly without compromising the privacy and confidentiality of people involved.
“It is incredibly concerning to hear that the Minister has no intention of releasing this report in full,” Mr Cocks said.
Mr Cocks said Canberrans deserve to be safe, feel safe, and they deserve to know when something goes wrong in the mental health system and what is being done to address the significant issues.
“Both the Dhulwa Secure Mental Health Facility and the Gawanngal unit at the centre of this incident are located in close proximity to vulnerable people, and the Government must reveal exactly what has gone wrong,” the Liberals MLA said.
“This is a Minister whose first reaction seems to always be to hide the story, or pretend it doesn’t exist. Yet in just the last two years of this Minister’s tenure in charge of the mental health system, we have seen disturbingly high rates of occupational violence at the Dhulwa unit; the violent killing of a man admitted to the Adult Mental Health Unit; disastrous handling of multiple patient information breaches; and a secret review into the toxic and dysfunctional office of the Minister herself.
“Various details of both the incident, and the events leading up to it, including the identity of the alleged offender, are already public knowledge.
“If the Minister persists in hiding the full story, it will continue to undermine trust in Canberra’s mental health system. The Labor-Greens government must come clean.”
