Glenside Hospital Under Attack

Glenside Hospital : a State Issue for All People in South Australia

Questions for Syndicate Sinister Mike Rann and Mental Health Monster Jane Lomax Smith :

(Mike and Jane might prefer we didn't ask.)

1. WHERE is the money from all the drug and alcohol facilities that have been sold off around Adelaide recently ?
   
   
2. WHY are people with mental health problems living in parks and on streets with little or no support ? The State Government is planning to spend $45 million of taxpayer's money to build a film studio on Glenside Hospital grounds. At the same time they have announced a delay building a new hospital until 2013/2014 claiming a shortage of funds. This is not justifiable, it's simply a disgrace.
   
   
3. WHY create massive film studio buildings and associated noise and activity levels in the grounds of a psychiatric hospital where open space and tranquility are paramount for patients' wellbeing ? It defies logic.
   
   
4. WHAT research has been done to support the huge amount of public money being channeled into a film studio ? Given recent media reports questioning the viability of Victoria's publicly funded Docklands Studio after its private operator walked away in December 2008. Why will this be any different ?
   
   
5. WHY is the Government pushing ahead with yet another shopping centre and office development on these same hospital grounds when local councils and the public are strongly opposed to this, and have said there is no justification for another shopping centre and more offices in this area ?
   
   
6. WHY is the Government refusing to provide their research regarding the viability of this shopping centre ?
   
   
7. WHY have they started legal proceedings to prevent the release of these documents under FOI by the Ombudsman ?
   
   
8. WHY sell a large part of the hospital grounds to a private shopping centre operator in an off market transaction lacking any transparency ? Is this an acceptable outcome for publicly owned land to be sold to commercial interests behind closed doors ?
   
   
9. WHY is Burnside Council's Glenside Hospital Survey showing 93% of people opposed to the loss of open space and 86% opposed to building more shops and offices being ignored ?
   
   
10. WHY has the Upper House Select Committee's Review gone largely unanswered — a review that stated the Glenside proposal needed to go back to the drawing board and be restarted with proper consultation conducted with Health Professionals and other stakeholders ?
    
    
11. WHY is Glenside's specialist emergency department closed and people experiencing psychotic episodes sent instead to general hospitals disrupting their emergency departments and putting extra pressure on services ?
    
    
12. WHY do our already over-crowded prisons have an overrepresentation of people with psychiatric problems ?
    
    
13. WHY are over 22,000 South Australian families and individuals being left on Housing Trust waiting lists, sometimes for many years, while psychiatric patients are shunted into public housing instead of having adequate supported accommodation provided for them ?
    
    
14. WHY does this Government continue to spend $15 to $20 million a year of taxpayer's money employing its many spin doctors to hide the truth from public scrutiny instead of spending this money on health, education, police or public housing ?
    
    
15. WHY doesn't the Minister come to public meetings when invited and hear first hand what people have to say about these issues ?
    
    
16. HOW many extra security guards have to be employed by general hospitals to cope with this situation ?
    
    
17. HOW many people left isolated in this way in a housing trust unit, motel or caravan park have self harmed or committed suicide in the last twelve months ?
    
    
18. DO you want our irreplaceable open space buried under more concrete ?

Mental Health has been under-funded and under-resourced for years and the Government proposal to chop up this site for development is simply a real estate deal masquerading as a hospital upgrade and a shameful exploitation of a public asset.

To the Premier and the Minister for Mental Health :

We don't want this valuable public asset sold off for offices, more private housing, another shopping centre or a film studio.

If you agree patients, staff and all South Australians deserve a better outcome for the 130 year old hospital site and that the $45 million of Taxpayers money earmarked by the Government for a film studio should be used for something better, please write :

Send $10 to help

Burnside Save Open Spaces PO Box 7247 Hutt Street ADELAIDE SA 5000

Phone: 08 8431 1047 or 08 8271 2540

Wsite:www.saveopenspaces.org.au Email:info@saveopenspaces.org.au

A non political resident organisation incorporated in 1993.