Wednesday, 12 November 2025

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:22): (1113) My question is again for the Minister for Mental Health. Minister, last night, in a Channel 9 news report, you said:

… it is not my understanding that anybody has been turned away from our sobering services …

Minister, local residents have described people being denied entry to the Collingwood sobering facility because they are too drunk, resulting in ambulance and police attending to deal with behaviour, including assaults in the street and people trying to enter nearby homes, so I ask: what advice have you received given that is not your understanding but the reality is that people are being turned away?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:23): I thank Ms Crozier for her question and her interest in our AOD services in Victoria. Ms Crozier, often your questions to me are framed around media coverage that you have seen or read, and often –

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, the minister was actually quoted. She was on camera and quoted in the story. My question is: what advice has she got about something that she has said?

The PRESIDENT: I think she was agreeing that it was actually –

Georgie Crozier interjected.

The PRESIDENT: There is no point of order.

Ingrid STITT: I could go into the ins and outs of what question was put to me and what I was answering, but I am not made aware of individual circumstances, which would not be appropriate in any case given that this is a health service and I am not privy to data about individuals. But what I will say more broadly about the reforms that our government has led to decriminalise public intoxication is that I would remind members of the impetus behind that reform, which was many recommendations from the Coroner’s Court and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Our government was proud to deliver on that commitment and those reforms, because people who are intoxicated in public do not belong in police cells.

They deserve a health-led response, and that is exactly what our public intoxication reforms deliver. I think that to focus on one individual out the front of a facility completely ignores the wraparound supports that are provided by a number of really well-respected organisations in the community health space.

Similar to the statistics that I went through about the MSIR in response to Ms Crozier’s previous question, I am going to take her through the stats about this service too. They do not want to hear it, but the fact is that since we commenced this service in March 2025, 64,000 instances of care have been provided by our outreach teams for people who find themselves in situations that could be unsafe. They get that health support. In many cases they just need a helping hand to sober up to be able to get home safely, but in those circumstances where somebody has not got that as an option, our sobering services are there to assist them. This is all about making sure that people get the vital help that they need when they are in those situations, and I reject the propensity of those opposite to try to constantly run down our community health services.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:27): That is a bit ironic seeing as you are closing the GP services from community health services not far from this area.

Ingrid Stitt: On a point of order, President, Ms Crozier, as a former health worker, ought to know that primary health care is not the responsibility of the state government.

Members interjecting.

Georgie CROZIER: On the point of order, President, if I can help the minister: it is an essential part of our health system, and if you are going to blame the federal government for the closure of your failures, then I look forward to passing this –

The PRESIDENT: There is no point of order. Have you finished your question?

Georgie CROZIER: Yes. I am looking forward to passing it on to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

The PRESIDENT: Thanks for everyone’s help, but there was no point of order anywhere.

Georgie CROZIER: The minister referred to the benefits of community health services and also understanding that these issues are in our community, yet she has not addressed the substantive question. I am asking: has the minister spoken to the local residents in Collingwood? They do have a right to have me, and the opposition, ask questions on their behalf in question time.

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:28): I thank Ms Crozier for her supplementary question. What I will say about the service at Collingwood – the sobering centre, which is run by Cohealth – is that Cohealth have got processes and procedures in place for those that live in the local vicinity to be able to bring forward any issues of concern that they have. I would urge that anybody in that community, if they do have issues they want to raise directly with Cohealth, ought to avail themselves of that opportunity.