Professor Eilion?ir Flynn:

I thank the subcommittee for the invitation to present today and I thank the IPRT for a great partnership in this research report.

We do not have the data on how long individuals are detained currently in the CMH. We have called for that data in our report as a first step.

On what we could do differently with the unfitness to plead process, there are some interesting pilot projects. For example, colleagues of ours in the Melbourne Social Equity Institute have completed how exactly one would do this. For the project they worked with a number of marginalised groups where people were disproportionately found unfit to stand trial, including Aboriginal or indigenous people in Australia. They worked on alternatives to the current system that included support for the people to understand the trial proceedings and to communicate with their lawyer so that they could give their lawyer instructions and so that they could understand what was happening in the courtroom. They had the opportunity to try out the space, see how it would work and experience it before they were required to be present for the trial. They had support in police stations during questioning. A long-term process of support was put in place to not start from the assumption that the person would never be able to participate in the trial but support the person to fully participate and in a meaningful way take part in the trial procedure. This was found to be important for individuals not only because they deserve support to understand what is happening, which is something that many different communities and groups could benefit from and not just disabled people and those who have a label or diagnosis concerning their mental health. In fact, many different people who come into contact with the criminal justice system would benefit from this kind of support and accessibility in understanding how the system works and being able to navigate it better.