❓ Ms. Mettam questions the government's prioritization of hospital-based mental health services over community support and prevention, while the Minister accuses the opposition of advocating for cuts to hospital mental health services.
AnsweredQoN 584Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
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?
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?
AnswerView source ↗
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.
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.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.