The countdown is on to reinvent our Mental Health Act

Few people know much about the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act, writes an expert in mental health nursing on The Spinoff. But approximately 5,000 New Zealanders are subject to the act. The current legislation is in breach of our obligations under the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and has earned censure from the UN committee overseeing the convention. The chance to reinvent mental health legislation won’t occur again for another generation, and now the public have three months to read the 100-page consultation document and respond using the long online form.