PARLIAMENT OF TASMANIA LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL REPORT OF DEBATES Tuesday 13 October 2020 REVISED EDITION Tuesday 13 October 2020 The President, Mr Farrell, took the Chair at 11.00 a.m., acknowledged the Traditional People and read Prayers. TABLED PAPERS Government Response - Petition - National Driver Licence Facial Recognition Solution [11.03 a.m.] Mrs HISCUTT (Montgomery - Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council) (by leave) - Mr President, I have the honour to provide the Government's response to the member for Nelson's petition regarding the transfer of driver licence photographs to the National Driver Licence Facial Recognition Solution. Parliamentary Standing Committee of Public Accounts - Tasmanian Government Fiscal Sustainability Report 2016 - Report Mr Dean presented the report of the Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee of Public Accounts in relation to an inquiry into the Tasmanian Government Fiscal Sustainability Report 2016. Report received and printed. STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT COVID-19 - Chamber Seating [11.10 a.m.] Mr PRESIDENT - Honourable members, before we commence our special interest bills we have endeavoured to return our Chamber slightly back to normal with seating, as was the original plan before COVID-19 took hold. Bit by bit we will endeavour to move those in the far reaches of the Chamber back in. I remind members to keep practising hand sanitising, social distancing and time out of the Chamber when you can until we get to the point where we can all sit comfortably close together. SPECIAL INTEREST MATTERS Break O'Day Mental Health Action Group - Achievements [11.11 a.m.] Ms RATTRAY (McIntyre) - Mr President, October is Mental Health Month and I take this opportunity to talk about the Break O'Day Mental Health Action Group. The group has been involved in suicide prevention since the day it was established in 2016, and it has achieved an impressive amount of outputs and outcomes. Tuesday 13 October 2020 1 As a result of the group's work, it was approached by Public Health Services Tasmania in late 2017 for the Break O'Day area to become one of three Tasmanian trial sites for the LifeSpan National Suicide Prevention Trial. A number of members of the Break O'Day Mental Health Action Group are on the Suicide Prevention Working Group. The action group operates with the objective of spending 20 per cent of its time on planning and 80 per cent on action. The group meets only when actions from previous meetings are completed. It is a group that gets things done, resulting in an impressive amount of outputs and outcomes achieved over the two years it has been active. Its key achievements and activities are far too extensive to name them all up here - some 23 in total - so I will share with members just a few to show the extensive, positive impact achieved by the Break O'Day Mental Health Action Group. The group provided extensive input into the Rethink Mental Health consultation paper, an extensive community consultation to develop a suicide prevention community action plan. The group supported a two-day mental health first aid workshop for 10 attendees and provided community workshops on understanding and talking about suicide to 15 attendees. It provided mini-mindfulness and meditation weekly sessions throughout the year, undertook community and service providers' consultation in relation to mental health service provisions to identify service gaps, and developed the Mental Health Services Directory for the Break O'Day region, which is updated quarterly and is now up to version 9. The group provides access to free counselling, with no referral required, and provides individual support to families. The group also successfully conducted a lobbying campaign for youth mental health work support from Headspace and established the Community Champions program and provided training to 22 community champions. A lot of really good work there; as I said, there were 23 initiatives but I have just picked out some I felt members may be interested in. The effect of the above contributions is anecdotal evidence that the community is better connected. The workshops, awareness-raising events and radio sessions have resulted in a reduction of stigma in the community. People are openly talking about suicide and are better engaged in support. There has been an increase in the uptake of mental health and counselling services. The mental health services directory is well used by general practitioners and other health professionals. Lessons learned are put into practice. The Mental Health Action Group has become well known in other regions of Tasmania, recently providing mentoring and peer support to the action group in Sorell. The group has been successful in lobbying for better service provision in the region, resulting in an increase in local services. Another measurement of its success is the number of community champions active in the community, reducing social isolation and improving community connections. With the establishment of the local committee comprising senior personnel from a wide cross-section of the community - local people known to many - to oversee a coordinated response in the event of future loss to suicide, the Break O'Day community can feel supported and comforted that this arrangement is in place in their community. Thank you, on behalf of our communities, to those who are part of this committee. We wish you all the best over the course of the trial. Tuesday 13 October 2020 2 Post the trial, the committee intends to remain in place, and it is envisaged it will become a critical community support following a suicide, which I genuinely hope will not be needed. As with all discussions around mental health and suicide, I remind honourable members, staff and those who may be watching this broadcast of the importance of reaching out when you or someone you know needs to seek support. The Lifeline number is 13 11 14. Country Women's Association in Tasmania [11.17 a.m.] Ms PALMER (Rosevears) - Mr President, in our communities, one of my favourite things to do is to find hidden gems. Sometimes, the gems we have are actually in plain view, but do not always attract the attention that perhaps they deserve. I was delighted to receive an invitation to open the annual general meeting of the Country Women's Association in Tasmania on Saturday, 26 September. When I arrived, as expected, I was greeted with a cup of tea. It was hot, it was in a floral china cup, and it was very strong. Just as warm as the cup of tea was the hand of friendship extended to me as I arrived. When I walked into the Ross Town Hall, the association had taken its COVID-19 safety plan very seriously. Every inch of the hall was actually used. The seats were spaced out, right into the back corners, so that everyone was separated by 1.5 metres. To be honest, these women needed it, because these women do not waste time. While they were there for the annual general meeting, they also had bags all around their feet filled with wool and different items of craft. They certainly needed the space for what they were doing. As I said, this was not a time they were going to waste. To be honest, this is exactly how I thought the meeting might be, but that is where any stereotyping on my behalf ended. Over the hour, I sat there and listened to the work they had done over the past 12 months - and indeed, the work they would like to do in the coming 12 months. They have been heavily committed to a fundraising project, Orange Sky, which will be familiar to many in this place. It is a laundry and shower service that moves around communities, and is there for those who may find themselves homeless or unable to access laundry and shower facilities. Their health focus for the year had been stroke - not only looking at the impacts of stroke on our community, but also how they could be better aware, as members, of the impacts it could have on their own lives, and also the telltale signs that would alert them that there may be trouble on the horizon. Their food topic for the year was cheese. They had learned a lot about cheese, and how it is made. In particular, I am guessing there was a fair bit of sampling, because they had also discussed the quality that cheese can bring to one's diet. They had also studied the Maldives, learning about the country's history, customs, government, food and agriculture - not because they were looking at next holiday options, but because they wanted to familiarise themselves with these people and their customs, and to always be learning more about our world and how they could impact that. Tuesday 13 October 2020 3 In the coming year we are going to bring back a scholarship program that sends a young Tasmanian girl in years 10 through to 12 to Canberra to get a better understanding of how our political system works. What a wonderful opportunity for a young woman in those formative years. Ms Rattray - Are you really sure about that? I have seen some of those telecasts. Ms PALMER -I think it is a good idea. What are they up to politically? The association is currently lobbying the Minister for State Growth to consider making it mandatory for vehicle headlights to be on at all times in order to improve safety on our roads. They also want to raise the profile - not just among their members, but among the community - about advance care directives. We have spoken a lot about that over the last few months.