Time for governments to act on mental health care.(Foreword)

In 1993 the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission released the report of its National Inquiry into the Human Rights of People with a Mental Illness (the Burdekin Report). This followed agreement by all Australian Health Ministers in 1992 to a National Mental Health Strategy (www.mmha. org.au/Policy/Australian MentalHealthPolicy).

The National Inquiry found that although the movement towards community care and mainstreaming of mental health services had reduced the stigma associated with psychiatric care, in general governments had not redirected the money saved by deinstitutionalization into mental health and related services in the community.

Families and carers were found to be badly overstretched and insufficiently supported.

Specialist services for the many thousands of Australians affected both by mental illness and some other form of disability were found to be almost non-existent.

The Inquiry recommended improved crisis facilities, accommodation services and other community mental health services, and measures to promote improved employment opportunities for people affected by mental illness.

From the start of my term as Human Rights Commissioner in December 2000 I was hearing reports that most of the issues identified in the 1993 Burdekin Report remained of concern.

With this in mind, I decided in 2004 to join with the Mental Health Council of Australia (MHCA) and the Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI) and conduct national consultations on human rights and mental health issues. Twelve years after the Burdekin report, our 'Not for Service: Experiences of injustice and despair in mental health care in Australia' (www.mhca.org.au/notforservice) Report was launched--on 19 October 2005 just as this special issue of Health Sociology Review was being readied for press.