Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Health spokesperson
All Tasmanians deserve appropriate, timely care when they are in mental distress or suffering poor mental health. The psychiatric specialists who provide them with treatment and care deserve to be heard, and their calls acted on.
The issues raised by 16 psychiatrists in a letter to the Australian Medical Association are alarming. For the many people who have been involved with the mental healthcare system in Tasmania, however, it is not at all surprising.
Medical professionals have told us over and over about the dire state of the Tasmanian mental health system. The government has refused to listen to people on the front line, and ignored the needs of patients, for seven years.
The Greens fully support an independent inquiry into statewide mental health services in Tasmania. It’s clear the system is past breaking point, and will deteriorate further without intervention.
There have been big promises this election and lots of cash splashed around, but without a strategy to recruit and retain staff, and address the issues they’re raising, the health system won’t improve.
The Liberals’ plan for health appears to be the same as usual: promise bucket loads of money at election time, then spend the next few years ignoring the desperate pleas of patients and medical professionals. It’s shameful.
The Greens commend the 16 psychiatrists for speaking out, and all Tasmanian health system staff for, as usual, going above and beyond to look after their community.
We hope this election will deliver the change they’ve been seeking for too long.