Home / Health / Mental Health Crisis: Inquest Demands Urgent Sector Reform
Mental Health Crisis: Inquest Demands Urgent Sector Reform
25 Nov
Summary
- Inquest highlights critical need for mental health sector reform.
- Man who died in Bondi stabbing slipped through healthcare net.
- Serious lack of community-based treatments and housing cited.
A critical need for significant reform within the mental health sector has been highlighted as the coronial inquest into the Bondi Junction mass stabbing draws to a close. The inquest heard that the perpetrator, Joel Cauchi, who killed six people and injured ten others before being shot by police, had stopped taking medication for his schizophrenia five years earlier and was considered "extremely unwell."
Final submissions to the New South Wales coroners court pointed to a "serious lack of adequate community-based treatments and housing" for individuals with severe mental illness in both Queensland and New South Wales. It was argued that substantial investment is crucial to enhance public safety and prevent the decline of those suffering from psychosis.
The inquest also drew attention to the stark reduction in available support services, comparing approximately 1,150 short-stay beds in Sydney hostels in 1991 to fewer than 300 today. Senior counsel urged NSW Health to lead major reform, emphasizing the necessity for concrete action rather than just further reports to address systemic defects dating back to the 1960s.
