ACT government turns down opposition's call for concurrent Dhulwa inquiry

Ms Davidson announced earlier this week there would be an independent inquiry into governance at the Symonston mental health facility after nurses reported a series of assaults at the facility.

The inquiry came after calls from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation who aired concerns over staff safety after the facility as more than 100 physical assaults took place in a six-month period.

The federation's call was supported by the Canberra Liberals, but the opposition pushed for a concurrent inquiry by the Legislative Assembly's standing committee on health and wellbeing.

Opposition health spokeswoman Leanne Castley said this inquiry could look at immediate issues facing nurses at Dhulwa, particularly issues related to security and staff safety.

However, Ms Davidson said she did not believe a committee inquiry was appropriate at this time.

"To be absolutely clear, I am committed to getting this work done as quickly as is safely possible," she told the Assembly.

"It is, however, important that the work is done properly and the expert team that we appoint has the space, time freedom and flexibility to complete its work in a way that respects all opinions, hears all perspectives, deals with the complexity of providing services in a place like Dhulwa and helps us on a path to a brighter future for Dhulwa.

"At this stage, I do not agree that this matter should be referred to the standing committee as Ms Castley outlines in her motion.

"There may be validity in the committee looking at the topic in the future, but I don't believe that concurrent inquiries would be helpful at this stage."

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The ACT government is working with the union to find an independent chair and on the terms of reference for the inquiry.

Ms Castley expressed disappointment that her motion was unsuccessful, saying an inquiry could have provided a quicker response to issues of security at the site.

"We know that the security guards out at Dhulwa are not allowed to step in and protect the nurses if there is an altercation so that's one quick area," she said.

"The idea of our motion today was asking that the health committee do quick, immediate inquiry."

Ms Davidson said work was continuing with WorkSafe ACT to improve security at the site. The workplace safety watchdog issued an improvement and prohibition notice to Dhulwa last month.

But earlier this week the nurse's union aired concerns about the response to the WorkSafe ACT notices as work health and safety representatives had not been contacted.

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