FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 9 June 2026
BEING has issued a media release following the ABC’s coverage over the weekend of the death of Tammy Shipley in police custody in 2022.
Tammy, who lived with schizophrenia and bipolar, handed herself in to police for her own safety, was wrongfully imprisoned and ultimately allowed to die whilst in custody.
Tammy’s death should never have been allowed to happen but it’s one more tragic reflection of the crisis in the NSW mental health system. BEING is calling for the government to:
- Immediately Fund Gaps: address the 125,000-person service gap identified in the David McGrath report moving funding away from acute policing and prisons and into community-based and peer-led care.
- Establish a National Psychosocial Support Scheme
- Mandate Peak Body Consultation for First Response: Ensure mental health peak bodies are formally embedded in co-designing the operational transition to a health-led response once the Health/Police Memorandum of Understanding is signed.
Click here to read our media release in full.
If you want to know more about the circumstances of Tammy’s death, the ABC are producing a podcast on ABC Listen or read the ABC background briefing.