Coleman Jonathan: Mental Health Commission Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Coleman Jonathan: Mental Health Commission Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:641;Page:10927] 
Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (National—Northcote) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to speak in the Committee stage of this Mental Health Commission Amendment Bill. National will support this bill but as I will discuss shortly we have tabled an amendment. 
I thought the Health Committee members worked very well together on this bill. The Mental Health Commission Amendment Bill obviously addresses some issues that are pretty important in New Zealand. We had 22 submissions. The range of opinions expressed over the course of the submissions was interesting. One of the main things that came out of the process I think is the importance of involving families in the care of those who suffer from chronic mental illness. We know that 0.3 percent of the New Zealand population suffers from a chronic incurable mental illness and the burden for much of the care needed falls back on families. We heard a lot from families who were in that situation and who felt quite concerned that they really were no longer part of the decision-making process. One thing we have to bear in mind in the mental health sector is to make sure the views of families are taken into account when we are considering chronic care arrangements for the mentally ill. 
The main amendment we have relates to clause 8(1). This bill will extend the life of the commission to 2015. Well the National Party supports an amendment—and I hope that the rest of the Committee will support it as well—to limit the life of the commission to 3 years after the date of the Royal assent of the Mental Health Commission Amendment Act 2007. There is a very clear reason for that: we think there really has to be accountability with regard to public money. If we look at what has happened with mental health over the past 8 years since this Government came to power we see that spending has gone up by 75 percent. It is now nearly at the $1 billion mark. That is an awful lot of money but we have to ask what the public is getting for that expenditure. 
The reality is that mental health statistics in this country are actually getting worse but the real issue is that public access to mental health services is deteriorating. There is no question that the sort of headline-grabbing areas of mental health—like forensic services—have been well funded because politically it is very important for any Government to get that stuff out of newspaper headlines. And this Labour Government has been the epitome of doing just that. That is all very well but if we look at what has happened for Maori and Pacific Islanders for children and for the elderly we see that they are not getting access to services that they should be getting. We think that is a real crime. When we have so much more money in the system those people—many of whom are disadvantaged and many of whom are without a strong voice in our society—should be getting access to a fair share of the services. 
I come back to the amendment. Why do we want to limit the life of the commission to 3 years in the first instance when it will be reviewed? I must say that there is no doubt that the life of the commission will be extended. The reason for the limit is that the National Party believes that we cannot write blank cheques with public money. Basically we believe that if the Mental Health Commission is written a blank cheque to 2015 it is being given too much latitude. We believe that if the commission is fulfilling the role it should be and if it is doing a good job there is no reason why its life will not be extended beyond 3 years from the date of the granting of the Royal assent. But in the age we live in where we have had so much profligate spending by this Government and where so much money has been wasted on reports and bureaucracy we believe that it is irresponsible to extend the life of any commission or Government bureaucracy for 7 years like that without any accountability. That is what we will be asking for. 
We believe that the Mental Health Commission does a good job; there is no question about that. It has done a great job in promoting awareness of mental illness in a positive way. The John Kirwan ads have really done a lot to destigmatise mental illness. There is definitely a role for the Mental Health Commission and it does good work that needs to be supported. But like any body it has to be constantly watched and monitored. 
One thing we want to see the Mental Health Commission doing is pushing this Government much harder because the Government really has not delivered on mental health. That is the role we will be seeking to have the commission fill.