Off to a shaky start, Mental Health Royal Commission

People who use mental health services have expressed mixed feelings about today’s announcements about the Victorian Royal Commission into Mental Health.

The most important commissioner is missing

VMIAC, the peak body for people who use Victorian mental health services, welcomes today’s announcements about the Mental Health Royal Commission, but says the most important experts have been left out.

‘It’s really disappointing that we don’t have a consumer commissioner,’ said Maggie Toko, VMIAC CEO. “The people who’ve survived the mental health system have the most important expertise for this Royal Commission—but they’re not there.’

The appointed commissioners have backgrounds in psychiatry, law, economics and public policy, but no-one who has actually used the system. This is despite the Victorian Government committing to

/Public Release.