Vic mental health system report due March

The findings of a royal commission into Victoria's "broken" mental health system are expected to be handed down on March 2.


The report was due to be made public on February 4, but was delayed over a COVID-19 case in hotel quarantine and the imposition of tighter restrictions.


Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday announced the report would be tabled next month ahead of a joint "historic" sitting of parliament.
Commission chair Penny Armytage, leading psychiatrist Patrick McGorry and a community member with experience of mental illness are expected to address the parliament upon the report's release.

The commission in November 2019 released an interim report describing the current system as "broken" and making nine recommendations, among them a substa

ntial increase in funding.
An estimated 105,000 Victorians with severe mental illness were not receiving specialist care and the cost of poor mental health to the state was about $14.2 billion a year, the interim report said.
 Mr Andrews commissioned the Australian-first inquiry following the 2018 state election.
"The thousands of Victorians who have so bravely and so generously shared their personal stories deserve our full, undivided attention - and they deserve our help," he said on Thursday.