❓ Questioning the extent of community consultation prior to selecting locations for disability justice centres, the Minister defends the process, emphasising 'preferred' sites were subject to community and planning feedback.
AnsweredQoN 534Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
DISABILITY JUSTICE CENTRES
534. Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH to the Minister for Mental
Health:
I refer to the minister's media release on Tuesday,
24 July 2012 regarding the locations announced for the disability justice
centres, which stated —
community engagement was an
important part of the project and local residents and business proprietors
would have the opportunity to join a community liaison group. This would be
established in the next two months and was expected to continue for the
duration of the project.
(1) Can the
minister explain what consultation took place with local residents and business
proprietors prior to the locations of Kenwick and Herne Hill being chosen?
(2) Who did the minister meet with prior to those locations
being chosen?
(3) When did the minister intend commencing consultations
with the community?
(4) Given that
the decision about those locations was already made, what was the minister
going to consult with the community about?
534. Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH to the Minister for Mental
Health:
I refer to the minister's media release on Tuesday,
24 July 2012 regarding the locations announced for the disability justice
centres, which stated —
community engagement was an
important part of the project and local residents and business proprietors
would have the opportunity to join a community liaison group. This would be
established in the next two months and was expected to continue for the
duration of the project.
(1) Can the
minister explain what consultation took place with local residents and business
proprietors prior to the locations of Kenwick and Herne Hill being chosen?
(2) Who did the minister meet with prior to those locations
being chosen?
(3) When did the minister intend commencing consultations
with the community?
(4) Given that
the decision about those locations was already made, what was the minister
going to consult with the community about?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
(1)–(4) What was the first question?
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich : Can you explain what consultations
took place with local residents and business proprietors prior to the locations
being chosen?
Hon HELEN MORTON : The very first thing we did was
identify our preferred sites. The word ''preferred'' was always
in front of those sites. We did not say that they were the sites come hell or
high water; we said that of the sites we had looked at, these were our preferred
sites. They were preferred for a number of reasons. The very first press
release—I think it must be the one that the member has in front of her
or that she has read or something—indicates that these sites will be
considered and discussed with the local community and with local government on
the basis of planning issues. Prior to that, I took the director general for
disability services to meet with the mayor, the chief executive officer and the
planning people from both the City of Gosnells and the City of Swan. At that
stage there were two weeks in which a number of discussions took place around
planning issues. There were consultations with whom? I think that answers that
question.
In terms of the community, it was always understood that we
would go out and talk to individual neighbours within the community. Apart from
their local members, we would engage with them. So, prior to the announcement,
community members were engaged through both a doorknocking program and a
letter-dropping program. Once again, that outlined for those people that these
were our preferred sites and that we would engage with them in discussion about
these particular sites and what we hoped to achieve on those sites. What was
the last question again? Of course, we did a lot of consultation with all
members of Parliament—members on both sides—and all political
parties to ensure that they were informed. We had a range of discussions with
local media to ensure that they were informed, so that when the announcement
was made they were able to talk about disability justice centres in an
intelligent way and in a way that reflected the true facility and whom it would
be used for. Unfortunately, a couple of people either deliberately or
unintentionally got those messages completely mixed up and made rather silly
remarks about what they would be for and basically, I think, stigmatised and
demonised people with a mental illness who were not ever going to be located in
these facilities. The last question was?
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich : Given that the decision about the
locations was already made, what were you going to consult the community about?
Hon HELEN MORTON : Unfortunately, the member has never been
able to understand that proposed locations mean that this is our proposal, this
is what we want to achieve and this is what we hope will work in these
environments, and it was made absolutely clear that if for some reason it did
not meet the planning requirements for residential facilities in a residential
zoning, we would have to go back to the drawing board. That is precisely what
happened, on the basis of people letting us know and giving us that feedback.
We got that feedback from local government and from a number of people in the
community, questioning whether these were able to be defined as residential
facilities. I went back and got additional information about that and found
that it was unlikely that they would be defined as residential facilities. In
the letter drop that we did for communities, we let them know about the
community forums that were going to take place within a week, I think, of the
time that that announcement was made, so there were plenty of opportunities for
people to come together and start talking about those things on a collective
basis as well. The decision was made on the basis that the feedback we got
meant that I needed to go back and get further information about the planning
issues around this proposal, and that is precisely what happened.
(1)–(4) What was the first question?
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich : Can you explain what consultations
took place with local residents and business proprietors prior to the locations
being chosen?
Hon HELEN MORTON : The very first thing we did was
identify our preferred sites. The word ''preferred'' was always
in front of those sites. We did not say that they were the sites come hell or
high water; we said that of the sites we had looked at, these were our preferred
sites. They were preferred for a number of reasons. The very first press
release—I think it must be the one that the member has in front of her
or that she has read or something—indicates that these sites will be
considered and discussed with the local community and with local government on
the basis of planning issues. Prior to that, I took the director general for
disability services to meet with the mayor, the chief executive officer and the
planning people from both the City of Gosnells and the City of Swan. At that
stage there were two weeks in which a number of discussions took place around
planning issues. There were consultations with whom? I think that answers that
question.
In terms of the community, it was always understood that we
would go out and talk to individual neighbours within the community. Apart from
their local members, we would engage with them. So, prior to the announcement,
community members were engaged through both a doorknocking program and a
letter-dropping program. Once again, that outlined for those people that these
were our preferred sites and that we would engage with them in discussion about
these particular sites and what we hoped to achieve on those sites. What was
the last question again? Of course, we did a lot of consultation with all
members of Parliament—members on both sides—and all political
parties to ensure that they were informed. We had a range of discussions with
local media to ensure that they were informed, so that when the announcement
was made they were able to talk about disability justice centres in an
intelligent way and in a way that reflected the true facility and whom it would
be used for. Unfortunately, a couple of people either deliberately or
unintentionally got those messages completely mixed up and made rather silly
remarks about what they would be for and basically, I think, stigmatised and
demonised people with a mental illness who were not ever going to be located in
these facilities. The last question was?
Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich : Given that the decision about the
locations was already made, what were you going to consult the community about?
Hon HELEN MORTON : Unfortunately, the member has never been
able to understand that proposed locations mean that this is our proposal, this
is what we want to achieve and this is what we hope will work in these
environments, and it was made absolutely clear that if for some reason it did
not meet the planning requirements for residential facilities in a residential
zoning, we would have to go back to the drawing board. That is precisely what
happened, on the basis of people letting us know and giving us that feedback.
We got that feedback from local government and from a number of people in the
community, questioning whether these were able to be defined as residential
facilities. I went back and got additional information about that and found
that it was unlikely that they would be defined as residential facilities. In
the letter drop that we did for communities, we let them know about the
community forums that were going to take place within a week, I think, of the
time that that announcement was made, so there were plenty of opportunities for
people to come together and start talking about those things on a collective
basis as well. The decision was made on the basis that the feedback we got
meant that I needed to go back and get further information about the planning
issues around this proposal, and that is precisely what happened.
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