Mental Health Review Tribunal of New South Wales

The Mental Health Review Tribunal of New South Wales is a specialist tribunal dealing with mental health issues in New South Wales, a state of Australia. It has exclusive jurisdiction in terms of most mental health issues, although it may share jurisdiction on some issue with other courts, such as the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The tribunal came into existence on 3 September 1990.

Constitution

The tribunal is established under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW). The act gives the tribunal a wide range of powers deal with the treatment and care of people with a mental illness.

The Governor of New South Wales may appoint a president of the tribunal. The president is a full-time position and the office-holder is expected to devote the whole of their time to the role. The current president is Greg James.

The governor may also appoint deputy presidents of the tribunal. These roles may be full-time or part-time. At present, there are two deputy presidents appointed.

Presidents and deputy presidents must either be lawyers or former judicial officers.

The governor may also appoint members of the tribunal. These members can be either full-time or part-time members, although the tendency is to appoint part-time members. Members are usually appointed for a one-year term [ref: page 2 Annual Review]. Members are chosen because of their experience in mental health issues, and may be psychiatrists or persons with a suitable qualification or experience in the area. As at 31 December 2005 there were 103 part-time members, comprising 33 legal members, 31 psychiatrists and 39 other suitably qualified members [ref: page 12 annual report].

Jurisdiction

The tribunal determines cases under the Mental Health Act 1990 (NSW). It may also have jurisdiction to deal with cases under other laws. The tribunal has jurisdiction in respect of:

• the release or disposition of persons acquitted of crimes by reason of mental illness;
• whether a person is fit for further trial after a jury has found the person unfit for trial;
• reviewing the cases of detained patients (both civil and forensic) to determine whether they should continue to be detained;
• hearing appeals against a medical superintendent’s refusal to discharge a patient;
• making, varying and revoking community treatment and community counselling orders;
• determining applications for treatments and surgery on detained patients; and
• making orders for financial management where people are unable to make competent decisions for

themselves because of psychiatric disability.

Hearings

The Tribunal conducts hearings in hospitals and community health centres throughout the Sydney, Wollongong, and Newcastle metropolitan regions, and also in Goulburn and Orange. The Tribunal conducts hearings for people living outside these areas either by videoconference or by telephone.

A person may have a lawyer to represent him or her at a hearing. In some cases, non-lawyers can represent a person with the permission of the tribunal.

Caseload

In 2005 the Tribunal conducted 9389 hearings [ref: page13.]

Appeals

In certain circumstances, an appeal may be lodged against the decision of the tribunal in either the Administrative Decisions Tribunal of New South Wales or the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Possible Abolition

The New South Wales Government enacted the Mental Health Act 2007 on 15 June 2007. When this law commences, the present tribunal constituted under the Mental Health Act 1990 will cease to exist, and a new tribunal under section 140 of the Mental Health Act 2007 will be created in its place. There is no indication at present when this new law will commence.

References

• Annual Review 2005, Mental Health Review Tribunal of NSW, http://www.mhrt.nsw.gov.au/mhrt/pdf/annualreport2005.pdf.
• Mental Health Act 1990 (NSW) http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/mha1990128/
• About Us, Home page of the Tribunal, http://www.mhrt.nsw.gov.au/