Mental Health bill debate delayed
It is now one year since the Mental Health Bill was returned to Parliament for its second reading and debate by MPs, and Te Hiringa Mahara is calling on the Government to ensure this is passed into law this year.
After a public submission process that began in October 2024, the Health Select Committee handed the Bill back to Parliament to be finalised in April 2025. Since then, we have not seen movement in this critical area.
Looking back to the origins of the Bill we acknowledge the 5000 voices who shared their experiences during the government’s Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction back in 2018. Then at the time the Bill was open for public input in late 2024, over 350 submissions were made on it.
There is a clear message: the current Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 is outdated and in need of a review. Repealing and replacing the law is one of 40 recommendations made in the Inquiry report He Ara Oranga, and this was endorsed through the submission process.
While some changes don’t need to wait for the law to pass, the updated law will set a new standard for care. Delays are putting the intended commencement date, currently set for July 2027, at risk.
As recent figures show, too many people experience compulsory community treatment and seclusion in our mental health services, and there is wide variation between districts with persistent inequities for Māori and Pacific peoples that must be addressed.
We need to see a shift in the system to ensure human rights are upheld in practice. A new Mental Health Act is needed to support the reduction and ultimately the end of seclusion and enable clear pathways for safe and rights-based alternatives.
Te Hiringa Mahara is urging all parties to come together, take on board the voices of the lived experience, whānau and the public and move this Bill forward.
