Mental Health

A supplementary question put forward to the Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO in relation to mental health problems.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I have a supplementary question. I understand that Glenn Wells is Jarrod’s care worker. Is it correct that, as Mr Wells stated, ‘Hospitals will not treat people will mental health problems if they’ve been taking illicit drugs’?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: I have not met Mr Wells.

However, one of the other initiatives we have undertaken is to fund some six positions for dual diagnosis workers. I think that incident occurred last June and I hope that, in the future, as I said, more and more mental health workers and DASSA workers will be working together and we will not see something like that happen again.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Sir, I have a further supplementary question. Will the minister undertake to check the veracity of those claims and bring back a report to this place?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: I think I should put this on the record: the fact that we now have a Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, the first one in Australia, elicits laughter from members opposite. That is how much they care about the issue. We are trying to fix the problem. We know that we have some way to go. I have just mentioned (and I am sure opposition members would have seen press releases) two significant amounts of funding to try to fix the problem, and all we get is absolute nonsense from members opposite.