Submission to the Inquiry into Mental Health Legislative Measures

Anglicare recommends that: the criteria for any involuntary treatment be defined more rigorously to ensure that a person undergoing treatment has been determined to have a mental illness; the extra criterion “the person has unreasonably refused or is unable to consent to the necessary treatment for the mental illness” be added to the list of essential criteria for the making of a Treatment Order; mechanisms be established to monitor and audit the effectiveness of the implementation of current and new legislation; the role of the Official Visitors be expanded to monitor the full range of locations where people with mental illness are treated; the introduction of Advance Directives be explored as a matter of priority; and training of all staff, including medical staff, in the National Privacy Principles be improved.