Blue Jackie: Mental Health Commission Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Blue Jackie: Mental Health Commission Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:641;Page:10934] 
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 I am happy to speak on the title of the Mental Health Commission Amendment Bill. It is interesting that we had a number of submissions to the Health Committee for the bill and they were very comprehensive and wide ranging. One submission was specifically on the name of the commission. The group submitting it felt very strongly that the name of the commission should be changed from the Mental Health Commission to the “Mental Health and Addictions Commission”. The group felt there was a lot to a name and that the name said it all and that with “Addictions” inserted there would be much more focus on addictions. This group felt quite strongly that addictions in the community—drugs alcohol and gambling—were an issue and that there would be a focus if that name were included. The committee looked at the group’s submission and heard a number of other suggestions apart from the name change. The group also suggested the need for greater expertise in addiction issues the establishment of an addictions consumer advisory group and the appointment of a commissioner. 
The committee took on all the group’s suggestions. We considered them and we recommended finally that there should be an addictions advisory group established to provide expert advice to committees. We certainly hope that this recommendation is taken up because drugs alcohol and gambling cause increasing problems in society and in communities. 
I want to go back and say that I really support the work of the Mental Health Commission. National wants to see accountability. People should not get worried that we want a date of 3 years from the Royal assent. It was more that we should have a checklist—a point where we can look back take some accountability and look at some measurable outcomes. People have obviously got far too wound up about the 3-year date; it is to ensure that public spending is accounted for and that the money is spent wisely. 
Money has been pushed into mental health—quite rightly. National has been concerned about the value of the spend. In fact some district health boards cannot even spend their mental health budgets and that is of great concern. I understand that the main reason for that is that they do not have the mental health workforce to enlist but key objective No. 3 for the Mental Health Commission which is to strengthen the mental health workforce will be critical in the years ahead. We know that the burden is increasing steadily—the statistics have come out today in the speeches—and mental health is a serious issue. It is not going away we cannot cover it up and we must address it. We cannot do that well without a mental health workforce—I think that is quite critical. The problem actually goes across the whole health sector; our whole health sector workforce is in crisis. Its members are an aging workforce they need to be rejuvenated and the mental health workforce is no exception to that. 
We support the work of the Mental Health Commission. We are concerned about the increasing number of hospitalisations for suicide and the increasing concern with depression in the community. We want to support the work particularly in the non-governmental organisation sector and the work of groups on the ground. They are quite critical in our health sector and their people are often the undervalued unrecognised and unsung heroes. 
We talked before about the Ministry of Health and the Mental Health Commission—why it had been split off. Why that happened is quite an interesting matter. The Mental Health Commission was established in 1996. In 1998 it became a Crown entity supposedly to give it independence and autonomy; but with that type of split focus can be lost and there can be two groups working in different directions. I certainly hope there is no duplication of their workloads because that would obviously be a waste of time energy focus and money. Certainly I wonder about the need for both groups to head off in different directions and I hope they are working together. 
I know that the John Kirwan ad was a Ministry of Health initiative and it has been a very good initiative. I think it has raised awareness in the community. People are talking about mental illness freely and without any shame. It is a common illness it is treatable and it is reversible. There is no shame in having a mental illness. I congratulate the ministry on those advertisements and I congratulate John Kirwan who got an honour recently. So National supports the Mental Health Commission but I think people have got hung up on the 3-year date we are proposing.