Rachel questioned the government on the Entities Legislation Amendment (Consolidation and Other Matters) Bill 2025.
She inquired about the consultation process regarding leadership teams of affected organisations and individuals with lived experience of mental illness and psychological distress. Rachel also asked how the changes of the bill royal commission’s commitment to lived experience leadership, rights-based practice and independent oversight.
Thursday the 19th of March 2026,
Victorian Legislative Council
Rachel Payne (South-Eastern Metropolitan):
Minister, you responded to Mr Welch’s question in regard to consultation around the bill, in particular the changes to the mental health proportion of the bill. To go into a bit more detail on that, did this consultation include the leadership teams of any of the impacted organisations, and if so, which ones?
Ingrid Stitt (Western Metropolitan, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence):
Given the need to progress these reforms in a timely way, broader engagement with the Victorian Collaborative Centre and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission will continue to be undertaken through the implementation and transition planning, but consultation was intentionally targeted at key lived experience peak bodies, specifically Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC), Tandem and Self Help Addiction Resource Centre (SHARC), reflecting that they have the mandate as the peak bodies and an established role in the sector as very strong advocates.
Rachel Payne:
Did the consultation include any people with consumer or carer lived or living experience in the mental health sector?
Ingrid Stitt:
Consultation included consumers and carers with lived experience of mental illness through engagement with their peak bodies VMIAC, Tandem and SHARC.
Rachel Payne:
We have throughout this process of engagement with stakeholders heard quite a bit of criticism regarding the consultation process. So I want to broadly put it out there: will the government and you, the minister, commit to ensuring greater transparency and improved consultation with the mental health sector in the future?
Ingrid Stitt:
The government is always committed to ongoing transparent engagement. As Minister for Mental Health, I do take that seriously, and I hope I am seen by the sector, broadly, as someone who is accessible and understands clearly my responsibilities to engage, not just in a surface way but properly. Both I and my department regularly engage with a diverse group of stakeholders across the sector, including through individual meetings with stakeholders, including unions, forums such as the Mental Health Ministerial Advisory Committee and the Alcohol and Other Drugs Ministerial Advisory Committee, and of course we also really appreciate the fact that we are able to, in relation to specific projects, set up advisory groups of experts from across the sector to advise the government on reforms. As reforms progress, the government will continue to take on feedback and consult with the mental health sector. I think it is really important that that also includes the implementation stage of any reforms.
Rachel Payne:
Just moving on to the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing, will the government support the inclusion of mandated output and expenditure reporting requirements for the collaborative centre to ensure it delivers measurable workforce training outcomes and itemised to-the-dollar reporting on where the mental health and wellbeing levy has been spent?
Ingrid Stitt:
Section 668 of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022 requires that as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year the collaborative centre board must submit a report to the minister, and that needs to include a review of its activities during the financial year, a review of its implementation against its strategic plan, a summary of actions it has taken that demonstrate that reasonable efforts have been made to comply with the mental health and wellbeing principles and any other information specified in writing by the minister. The collaborative centre’s financial reporting arrangements are currently through the Department of Health’s annual report, which includes their budget and their expenditure, so that is already a process that is publicly transparent and in accordance with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act.
Rachel Payne:
Minister, thank you for that fulsome response. What was the rationale for the changes in this bill to the mental health sector, and in particular the changes to lived experience leadership?
Ingrid Stitt:
I think I went to this in a little bit of detail with Ms Crozier and Mr Welch earlier. Essentially it is because, since the establishment of the commission, there have been overlapping roles and an overly complex governance structure that has really limited accountability and decision-making. These changes are all about designed and streamlined leadership and governance, and I believe strongly that moving to a commissioner and deputy commissioner model does strengthen that accountability and it reduces duplication while still maintaining the commission’s independence and core functions. Of course lived experience will continue to be represented in that leadership structure and in the commission’s important work. In relation to the changes to the governance arrangements at the collaborative centre, they are really changes to the board, ensuring the size of the board is appropriate for the size of the organisation, and the amended bill will help the collab centre operate more effectively and ensure lived experience representation remains a key component of the board. I think that these are sensible changes which are about better and stronger leadership of these two entities.
Rachel Payne:
Minister, you implied this in your response just now, but how do the mental health sector related changes in this bill uphold the royal commission’s commitment to lived experience leadership, rights-based practice and independent oversight?
Ingrid Stitt:
The commission obviously remains a very important independent statutory authority with broad oversight compliance and complaint-handling powers and responsibilities, including the ability to gather information, initiate own-motion investigations and report directly to the Parliament. The house amendments make targeted changes to strengthen lived experience leadership, as we have discussed in committee, and they retain the commission’s existing oversight powers. The amendments require that at least one mental health and wellbeing commissioner or the new deputy commissioner have lived experience. Of course, as we have been discussing, the amendments also ensure lived experience representation on the board of the collab centre, requiring at least two of the five board members to have lived experience, increasing to three if the board expands its numbers above the current proposed number. We think that together these changes actually reinforce lived experience leadership accountability and effective oversight across the mental health system.
Rachel Payne:
How will the needs and perspectives of carers be systematically embedded in governance for the mental health sector in the context of these proposed changes?
Ingrid Stitt:
Carers are a central voice in the governance of Victoria’s mental health sector, and I, as minister, and my department will continue to work closely with Tandem, the peak body for carers in mental health, to ensure that the sometimes unique perspective of carers continues to be reflected in our reforms and our decision-making. The government amendments, as we have touched on, will provide for lived experience for one of the commissioners and also the make-up of the collaborative centre board. I think that more broadly, outside the scope of the bill before us today, there is also significant investment and work in making sure that carers are supported in the system.
Rachel Payne:
Is it envisaged that the changes in the bill to restrict the scope of several functions of the commission will reduce the commission’s oversight functions, if at all?
Ingrid Stitt:
There are no changes to the commission’s functions. The house amendments that the Treasurer has circulated remove the previously proposed changes which sought to ensure the commission delivered on its core functions of complaint-handling investigations and data reviews.
These changes were consequential to the information-sharing changes previously put forward, but they are now no longer required. So the effect of all of that – around, around the mulberry bush – is there is no change to the commission’s functions.
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