Incarceration of Kylie Fitter
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: I ask the Minister for Health the following question without notice. Is the Minister aware of the case of Kylie Fitter, a 20-year-old girl who is currently detained in Juniperina Detention Centre and has been in custody for almost five years? Will the Minister explain why Ms Fitter has not been released from detention although since 2003 the Mental Health Review Tribunal has made a number of recommendations for her release? Will the Minister indicate what progress has been made, or whether any has been made, to reconsider provisions of the mental health legislation dealing with the executive discretion to release forensic patients in favour of judicially determined decisions, in light of the release of the discussion paper on the review of the Mental Health Act in July 2004?
The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: I am not in a position to comment on the individual case the honourable member has referred to. Decisions in relation to the release of individual patients under the Mental Health Act have, until recently, been with the Minister Assisting the Minister for Health, the Hon. Cherie Burton, who has had carriage of it. That matter has not come across my desk.
Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes: Can the Minister take it on notice?
The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: I can look at the matter on notice and come back to the honourable member. The honourable member is quite correct: a discussion paper last year raised the broader issue of executive discretion in those cases. Recently the Minister Assisting made an announcement in relation to a draft exposure bill in relation to a number of aspects for reform in the Mental Health Act, and also indicated that the Hon. Greg James, the President of the Mental Health Review Tribunal, would be conducting a specific review in relation to forensics and putting out a consultation draft in the next couple of months, canvassing a range of options, bearing in mind that the original discussion paper did not raise options. The consultation draft will put forward a number of different options for handling this matter with a view to obtaining community input before the Government makes a decision in relation to which option may be the most appropriate.
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The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: The Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Mental Health) makes recommendations to the Governor regarding the conditions of forensic patients in New South Wales with the aim of achieving community safety and the best prospect for the patient being successfully rehabilitated.
Some of the criteria considered when reviewing recommendations include:
• risk assessments;
• the level of a patient’s compliance with the rehabilitation program;
• victim impact statements;
• and the level of insight a patient has into their offence and their illness.
These criteria are considered consistently across the board in every case and as such are considered when recommendations are made concerning this young woman.
Experience has shown that the greater care in preparing a forensic patient for release, the greater the chance they have for successful rehabilitation.
Therefore, in the interest of forensic patients, and ultimately the community, extreme care is taken in approving recommendations from the Tribunal for the release of a forensic patient.
