❓ Mr. Cook questions the delay in establishing a mental health consumer advocacy body, a Liberal Party election commitment. Dr. Jacobs defends the delay, citing the recent creation of the Mental Health Commission as a necessary precursor for the advocacy body to report to.
AnsweredQoN 327Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MENTAL HEALTH — CONSUMER ADVOCACY
I refer to the Premier’s comments during estimates about a Liberal Party election policy, when he said — I think it was an ill-thought out proposal during an election campaign … Now I ask about another election commitment. One of the Liberal Party’s key election commitments was to tender the appointment of a consumer advocacy body for the mental health sector, yet after 21 months in office, the government is still yet to complete this simple but important task. Now that the Mental Health Commission has settled into its plush new St Georges Terrace offices, can the minister advise when he will actually achieve something for this sector? Dr G.G. JACOBS
I refer to the Premier’s comments during estimates about a Liberal Party election policy, when he said — I think it was an ill-thought out proposal during an election campaign … Now I ask about another election commitment. One of the Liberal Party’s key election commitments was to tender the appointment of a consumer advocacy body for the mental health sector, yet after 21 months in office, the government is still yet to complete this simple but important task. Now that the Mental Health Commission has settled into its plush new St Georges Terrace offices, can the minister advise when he will actually achieve something for this sector? Dr G.G. JACOBS
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Kwinana for his question and draw the house’s attention to the fact that he never gets the story quite right and tends to be quite unreliable. As to the plush accommodation of the commission, it is on the 5 th floor of 81 St Georges Terrace. It had a lease arrangement until 2016 and was empty. What it allowed us to do was relocate people from Subi Centro—the very plush accommodation in which the former government had its Director General of Health and others accommodated, at $249 000 a year. That freed us up to relocate them to Royal Street and use accommodation that was previously empty. That is good management. The member must be — Mr R.H. Cook interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
Dr G.G. JACOBS replied: I thank the member for Kwinana for his question and draw the house’s attention to the fact that he never gets the story quite right and tends to be quite unreliable. As to the plush accommodation of the commission, it is on the 5 th floor of 81 St Georges Terrace. It had a lease arrangement until 2016 and was empty. What it allowed us to do was relocate people from Subi Centro—the very plush accommodation in which the former government had its Director General of Health and others accommodated, at $249 000 a year. That freed us up to relocate them to Royal Street and use accommodation that was previously empty. That is good management. The member must be — Mr R.H. Cook interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
I thank the member for Kwinana for his question and draw the house’s attention to the fact that he never gets the story quite right and tends to be quite unreliable. As to the plush accommodation of the commission, it is on the 5 th floor of 81 St Georges Terrace. It had a lease arrangement until 2016 and was empty. What it allowed us to do was relocate people from Subi Centro—the very plush accommodation in which the former government had its Director General of Health and others accommodated, at $249 000 a year. That freed us up to relocate them to Royal Street and use accommodation that was previously empty. That is good management. The member must be — Mr R.H. Cook interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
As to the plush accommodation of the commission, it is on the 5 th floor of 81 St Georges Terrace. It had a lease arrangement until 2016 and was empty. What it allowed us to do was relocate people from Subi Centro—the very plush accommodation in which the former government had its Director General of Health and others accommodated, at $249 000 a year. That freed us up to relocate them to Royal Street and use accommodation that was previously empty. That is good management. The member must be — Mr R.H. Cook interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
Mr R.H. Cook interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
Dr G.G. JACOBS replied: I thank the member for Kwinana for his question and draw the house’s attention to the fact that he never gets the story quite right and tends to be quite unreliable. As to the plush accommodation of the commission, it is on the 5 th floor of 81 St Georges Terrace. It had a lease arrangement until 2016 and was empty. What it allowed us to do was relocate people from Subi Centro—the very plush accommodation in which the former government had its Director General of Health and others accommodated, at $249 000 a year. That freed us up to relocate them to Royal Street and use accommodation that was previously empty. That is good management. The member must be — Mr R.H. Cook interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
I thank the member for Kwinana for his question and draw the house’s attention to the fact that he never gets the story quite right and tends to be quite unreliable. As to the plush accommodation of the commission, it is on the 5 th floor of 81 St Georges Terrace. It had a lease arrangement until 2016 and was empty. What it allowed us to do was relocate people from Subi Centro—the very plush accommodation in which the former government had its Director General of Health and others accommodated, at $249 000 a year. That freed us up to relocate them to Royal Street and use accommodation that was previously empty. That is good management. The member must be — Mr R.H. Cook interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
As to the plush accommodation of the commission, it is on the 5 th floor of 81 St Georges Terrace. It had a lease arrangement until 2016 and was empty. What it allowed us to do was relocate people from Subi Centro—the very plush accommodation in which the former government had its Director General of Health and others accommodated, at $249 000 a year. That freed us up to relocate them to Royal Street and use accommodation that was previously empty. That is good management. The member must be — Mr R.H. Cook interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
Mr R.H. Cook interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
The SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, you have asked the question. You might expect to get some answers without continually interjecting. I formally call you for the first time. Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
Dr G.G. JACOBS : I answered some of the questions relating to this before, but the member obviously did not listen. He just wants to make up his own story and throw up more dust. What the member for Kwinana constantly does is not listen. He would know that the Mental Health Commission was created on 8 March. Before then, as I have said in this house before, there was no point in having a consumer body, an advocacy body, an advisory council or anything else if they had nothing to report to. Those opposite did nothing about restructuring and making a difference for people in Western Australia with mental illnesses. Now they go on about, “Where’s this body?” We have created a commission to make a difference, to purchase and provide services to fill in the gaps for people with mental illnesses, particularly in the community. That consumer body and those advisory councils will report to that commission that we created in March. There was nothing to report to previously. There was no reason to create a body that had nothing to report to. We now have the structure for that, and we will proceed with that process.
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.