Since our last update in November 2024, the Tribunal has continued to experience unprecedented demand for hearings.
Previously we needed to manage discreet periods of time when demand for hearings exceeded our capacity. We are now in a situation where this gap between demand and capacity is sustained.
In this context we have reviewed how we prioritise the scheduling of hearings to best meet our obligations under the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act (the Act), as well as our obligations as a public authority under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities (the Charter).
New scheduling priorities from 1 September 2025
Priority 1 - Applications for electroconvulsive treatment (ECT), neurosurgery for mental illness (NMI) and applications relating to interstate transfers and against transfers between designated mental health services (DMHS).
Priority 2 - 28-day temporary treatment order and secure treatment order hearings (including any concurrent patient application to revoke the order)
Priority 3 -Applications for a treatment order and six-month secure treatment order hearings (including any concurrent patient application to revoke the order)
Priority 4 – Hearings regarding a variation of a treatment order from a community to an inpatient setting (including any concurrent patient application to revoke the order)
Priority 5 - A compulsory patient’s first application to revoke an inpatient treatment order
Priority 6 - A compulsory patient’s first application to revoke a community treatment order
Priority 7 – Subsequent patient applications to revoke a treatment order
What does this mean for Tribunal hearings?
- We expect there will be times when we won’t be able to schedule or conduct all hearings. If this happens, we will write to the consumer, their nominated support person or carer, the consumer’s treating team and their legal representative (if there is one) to advise them.
- Some hearings, including variation hearings and patient applications to revoke, may be delayed.
- To avoid some hearings being missed we may need to list some matters with reduced notice. We aim to give a minimum of five (5) business days notice for inpatient hearings and seven (7) business days notice for community hearings.
Rationale for scheduling priorities
We allocated the highest priority to applications concerning ECT, NMI, interstate transfers and transfers to another DMHS as immediate planning and decisions about treatment are contingent on the Tribunal finalising these applications.
We then focused on the scheme in the Act. That scheme ensures compulsory treatment can only be extended beyond an initial period of 28 days if the Tribunal makes a treatment order. It also ensures independent review occurs when a compulsory patient is subjected to more restrictive treatment (i.e. if a community treatment order is varied to an inpatient treatment order). These protections are guaranteed in that a compulsory patient does not have to take any action to initiate the process, and strict statutory deadlines apply. Accordingly, these hearings must be prioritised.
The Act also enshrines a broad mechanism for compulsory patients to initiate a reconsideration of their treatment order through applications to revoke. The Act contains no limits on this mechanism, but it does give the Tribunal a discretion concerning the timeframe in which applications are listed and finalised. This discretion must be exercised in accordance with the Tribunal’s Charter obligations. The Tribunal has adopted an approach that weighs considerations about where a compulsory patient is being treated (i.e. in hospital or the community), and how often they have applied to have their treatment order revoked to determine when an application should be listed.