Changes are planned in Queensland’s mental health laws, giving patients more rights and families a bigger say.
The Palaszczuk government released a draft bill on Saturday to amend the 15-year-old Mental Health Act.
The health minister, Cameron Dick, says the review aims to check if the laws serve the interests of patients.
“Nearly half of all Australians will experience a mental health disorder at some stage in their lives,” he said.
“So it is important that laws keep pace with modern best practice and community expectations.”
The former Liberal National party government also amended the act, but Dick said its attempt was rushed and contained technical errors.
Under Labor’s draft legislation, the power to require a forensic patient to wear a GPS monitoring device would be shifted from a bureaucrat to the mental health court and mental health review tribunal.
It would also strengthen safeguards for the use of physical restraint and similar issues, Dick said.
The mental health court would also have the power to impose a non-revocation period of 10 years for forensic orders in the case of serious offenders.
The bill will be open for consultation for two months.