Last night, on the night of the NSW Budget, alongside the families of victims, BEING – Mental Health Consumers launched a joint statement, Having a Mental Health Crisis is not a Crime, to shine a light on police violence against people experiencing mental health crisis, and the human cost of the Government’s inaction on mental health reform.
Below is a copy of this statement, which has been endorse by more than 20+ leading mental health, community and justice reform organisations across NSW:
Having a mental health crisis is not a crime
Far too often, people experiencing a mental health crisis are not given the care they need but instead are subjected to police violence, unlawful arrest, and/or death in custody.
In NSW, more than 200,000 people experience severe or complex mental health issues each year. However, due to a lack of funding for critical supports, more than 58,000 of these people cannot access the care they need.
Behind each number is a person. They each have a name, a story, a family. Today, we remember the stories of three of these people:
- Jodi Knott: a 48-year-old woman who lived with schizophrenia and was experiencing a psychotic episode. Instead of providing care, the responding officers brutally beat, pepper sprayed and arrested Jodi, in what a District Judge called an act of “gratuitous cruelty”. Jodi was unarmed and completely naked at the time of the attack. She is remembered by her cousins Nichole and Sharee.
- Courtney Topic: a 22-year-old woman living with undiagnosed schizophrenia, experiencing what a coroner later found was most likely a psychotic episode. Concerned bystanders called police after seeing her distressed and holding a knife outside a Hoxton Park Hungry Jack’s. Within 41 seconds of arriving, officers pepper-sprayed her, attempted to use a faulty taser, then shot her dead. She is remembered by her parents, Leesa and Ron.
- Jesse Deacon: a 43-year-old man experiencing an acute mental health crisis, self-harming alone in his Glebe home. A concerned neighbour called triple-zero asking for an ambulance; police were sent instead, forced entry, and after a taser failed to subdue him, an officer shot him dead. The officers who responded had received no mandatory training in responding to mental health crises. He is remembered by his parents, Michael and Judy, and his sister Lucinda.
These stories are as heartbreaking as they are preventable. With the right processes in place, safe transfers, service access, and funding, these traumatic events need not be repeated. We have models of care that we know work: that are effective, minimise risk, save costs, and most importantly, save lives.
By continuously underfunding mental health services in the community, the Minns Labor Government is failing its most vulnerable citizens and forgetting those it leaves behind.
But we remember. We remember the 926 lives lost to suicide in NSW last year; the more than 7,000 people living with mental illness currently in NSW prisons; the 234 children and young people currently in custody; the 52 people who experienced a mental health crisis and were killed by police.
In their memory, these are our demands:
- Fully fund critical mental health services in NSW so that people experiencing mental health crises can access the care they need to continue living. The NSW Mental Health Minister has a gap analysis report, detailing exactly how large these service gaps are, where they are, and how much it will cost to fill them. That report, completed in late 2024, has not yet been made public. We call on the Minister for Mental Health to:
- Publicly release the results of the comprehensive gap analysis report;
- Collaborate with consumers, carers, clinicians, and the community mental health sector to plan how to fill these gaps;
- Commit to fully funding critical mental health services by 2030.
- Prioritise investment in community-based programs to prevent people from reaching a point of crisis:
- Step-up-step-down services across the state, to reduce risk of re-admissions and ensure safe transitions back to the community;
- Community Living Supports (CLS), for people living with severe and complex mental health challenges, so they can live independently and safely in the community with dignity.
- Make health-led responses the default for mental health emergencies, instead of a police-led response. Acknowledging the review in place, we call on the Minister for Mental Health and the Minister for Police to urgently:
- Establish a genuinely health-led response model for mental health emergencies, with police as a secondary response when the safety of health workers is at risk;
- Establish a dedicated mental health crisis line and health-led pathways, so that a mental health crisis triggers a health response by default;
- Co-design emergency response models involving mental health crises with consumers and carers with lived experience;
- Ensure the availability of community-based, peer-led alternatives.
- Legislate a NSW Human Rights Act so that the rights of people experiencing mental health crises are protected in law. Acknowledging the review in place, we call on the NSW Parliament to:
- Support the passage of the Human Rights Act for NSW, protecting civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights for all people;
- Ensure the Act explicitly protects people with mental health and psychosocial challenges, including the right to liberty, health, and freedom from cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.
Honouring the memory of those lost, we present a positive vision for mental health and justice in NSW: where people are provided with the care they need before it becomes a crisis; where mental health emergencies are responded to by health workers; and where the rights of all NSW citizens are protected so we can all live safely with dignity in community
These four reforms are evidence-based, cost-saving, and broadly supported. They not only benefit mental health consumers, their families and kin, but also the wider community. They also provide safer working environments for first responders and police. There is consensus that the system needs reform. What is required is the political will to invest and to act now.
The following organisations stand together behind this statement:
ACON Health; Alternative First Responders Campaign; Australian Centre for Disability Law; ANTAR (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation); Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR); Australian Society of Psychiatrists; BEING – Mental Health Consumers; Carers NSW; Community Legal Centres NSW; Justice and Equity Centre; Mental Health Carers NSW; Mental Health Coordinating Council (MHCC); National Justice Project; People with Disability Australia (PWDA); Older Women’s Network NSW; Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) – NSW; Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) – NSW; SSI (Settlement Services International); Tenants’ Union of NSW; Wayahead – Mental Health Association; Wayside Chapel
Download the joint statement here.
Contact: Lawrence Muskitta, Director of Advocacy and Partnerships, BEING – Mental Health Consumers NSW | 0413 621 913 | lawrence.muskitta@being.org.au