Dear members and supporters,

The State Government is progressing quickly on the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act.

The new Act aims to address 12 recommendations made in the Royal Commission’s final report, including recommendations 4, 30, 42-45, 53-56, and 61-62. You can read more about these on the Royal Commission website.

Now, the government has released an Update and Engagement Paper on the Engage Victoria website for public consultation, with submissions due by July 4.

The paper contains four key sections:

• the objectives and principles of the new Act
• non-legal advocacy, supported decision making and information sharing
• compulsory treatment and assessment, seclusion and restraint
• governance and oversight in the new Act.

Each of these sections explains which recommendations it addresses, includes the Department of Health’s proposals on how the new Act could meet those recommendations, and then poses a number of specific questions for public response.

After reading it, you may choose to make your own submission to the website – and the more submissions made that emphasise the needs and priorities of families and friends, the better.

You may also choose to contribute your opinions through Tandem’s submission, by participating in our consultation session this Thursday during our Tandem Time:

Tandem Time
10am to 11am
Thursday 24 June via Zoom.

Knowing that the deadline set by the Royal Commission was tight (it recommended that the State Government “enact a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act, preferably by the end of 2021 and no later than mid-2022”), we have already been consulting with members.

Earlier this year, we surveyed family and friends of people with mental health challenges to capture your priorities for our new mental health laws, and to gather feedback on some of the specific issues raised in the Royal Commission final report for the new Act to address.

We received 112 responses to that survey, and 54 members also attended a consultation session held during our last Members Meeting on June 10. Thank-you to all who participated in these activities; as always, members were highly engaged and offered thorough and insightful responses to the questions asked.

Your feedback so far has been collected into a report which is available on our website, and summarised in eNews below.

We hope to see many of you at our Tandem Time consultation session this Thursday.

Click on the link below to access the complete newsletter:
https://mailchi.mp/449528769e37/dfxn4oqrm0-4757548?e=34088e3417