As required by the assembly on 2nd December 2021, Minister Davidson has now reported back to the assembly on 4th May 2022 on the Mental Health Services including mental health, alcohol and other drug use disorders.
A short extract from Ms Davidson’s speech:
“As the Minister for Mental Health, I am committed to continuing to work closely with my colleague the Minister for Health to ensure that our ACT services are closely integrated and able to provide the right care, at the right time, in the right place. This cooperation also will be important as the ACT government progresses our nation-leading harm minimisation approach to alcohol and other drugs policy, which is a key tenet of the Drug Strategy Action Plan but is also a key theme of the proposed Drugs of Dependence (Personal Use) Amendment Bill 2021, currently standing in the name of Mr Pettersson.
I note that the debate on this bill has been delayed until after this update. While I will leave that particular discussion until then, I would like to say that I hope that this statement and the upcoming debate on the amendment bill will go some way to alleviating the stigma that people with co-occurring mental illness and alcohol or other drug issues experience and are exposed to. Issues of stigma and discrimination can lead to people with these co-occurring issues not being able to seek treatment or being refused services.”