By David Wroe
*October 13, 2005
The Age

A HOWARD Government parliamentary secretary has called for a return to institutions for the mentally ill in a strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister.

Warren Entsch, the parliamentary secretary for Industry, Tourism and Resources, also criticised the Government's "failure" on mental health and accused it of "buck passing" to the states.

Mr Entsch, an advocate for mental health issues, says the Government should "re-establish institutionalised care to accommodate those mental health sufferers that are a threat to themselves and the broader community".

"This is not the 18th century; institutions are no longer a dirty word," he said in the letter.

State governments have been closing mental institutions since the late 1980s. But Mr Entsch says they have not put the money saved into community care.

In his letter, Mr Entsch says mental health is the stand-out issue the Government has failed to tackle and it "lacks a firm policy and funding commitment".

Mr Entsch attached to his letter an opinion article written by former NSW Liberal leader John Brogden, in which Mr Brogden, who is being treated for depression after attempting suicide, slams the inadequate mental health services in NSW.