Politicians should not decide whether mentally impaired people on custody orders should be released, West Australian mental health groups say.
The call comes after it was revealed Perth man Enoch Samuel Walsh had become increasingly distressed when Attorney General Michael Mischin was not acting on a recommendation to free him from a psychiatric facility.
Friends and carers believe that is what triggered him to disappear on October 5 from Claremont’s Romily House.
He had been living there on a leave of absence order, after being found of unsound mind and acquitted of murdering his mother in a psychotic episode in Kalgoorlie in 2005.
The Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board had recommended he be released into the community on a Conditional Release Order last year and again this year.
A key consideration for the board in making its recommendation is “the degree of risk that the release of the accused appears to present to the personal safety of people in the community”.
Mr Mischin has refused to say why he did not agree to the first recommendation, citing the confidentiality of his deliberations, and has said he was considering this year’s advice when Mr Walsh vanished.
WA is the only state where ministerial approval is needed to release mentally impaired people locked up under custody orders.
Judges and health professionals should decide: WAAMH
WA Association for Mental Health president Alison Xamon said the case demonstrated the problem with the Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Accused) Act.
Under the Act, people remain subject to a custody order until they are released by an order of the Governor, usually acting on advice of the minister.
She said politicians needed to be removed from the decision making process.
“Unfortunately, this really goes to the heart of the problem of the Act and that is that the judicial process has been removed and it has effectively become politicised,” Ms Xamon said.
The Act is currently being reviewed.
“One of the key things that needs to be changed is removing politicians from entire decision making process,” Ms Xamon said.
“It’s up to judges and health professionals to be the ones who can determine what can happen for people who have experienced mental health issues.”
That is the case in other states, like Victoria, where a review board makes the final decision.
Consumers of Mental Health executive director Shauna Gaebler said the group’s submission to the review of the Act would recommend release orders did not involve ministerial approval.
“Interestingly WA is the only state where the minister and governor have the discretion of granting leave of absence and conditional and unconditional release,” Ms Gaebler said.
“We’re certainly recommending there’s a review and there are other processes rather than the state having the final approval.”