Dr. Michael Drumm:

I am most excited about that parity and that the people who will be dependent on the Act will be at the centre of it. I like the idea of guiding principles within the Act that allow for a clarity to be provided to help with its interpretation and enactment. That is a helpful way of getting around some of the very difficult situations and the conflicting advice the committee has received. It is probably the nicest way of doing it. It is not moving away from the medical model; it is bringing in the psycho and the social. It incorporates that into it rather than it being predominantly an illness or medical approach. We know that if a person is in crisis and is seen, then automatically, straight away there is relief. We know that even with physical health, the moment a person is seen, even if he or she is in great pain while waiting to be seen, that person automatically starts to feel a little better. We want to make sure that is available to allow that to happen in a way that is helpful. I remain exceptionally hopeful the Act will do that but it needs to be a bit brave. We need to make decisions then, and while not everyone is going to be happy and we do not expect to happy about it, as long as the decisions are made in regard to the individual who is using the service, everything else naturally falls out of that. As long as there are guiding principles based on human rights, everything else is okay.