A Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health system has found it catastrophically failed – and is calling for a radical overhaul.
The Royal Commission was called in 2018, with 65 recommendations made two years on.
Premier Daniel Andrews today addressed the special sitting of parliament, acknowledging the deep cracks in the system which were exposed 30 years ago, despite very little being done since then.
“Eventually … those cracks become a chasm and far too many Victorians are falling to their death,” he said.
The commission wants to see a new mental health act, with a new agency formed - independent of the government - to oversee the implementation of their recommendations.
The recommendations also include the health system being divided into eight regions with a focus on local community-based delivery.
Under the changes, triple zero calls concerning mental health would also be directed to ambulance services rather than police.
Mental Health Royal Commission Chair Penny Armytage today said the inquiry “has shone a light on a failed system. We cannot change the past, we can however demand a new way forward”.
“We don’t want to fill in the potholes, we want a new road.”