ABSTRACT
This emphasis on protection and compliance backed up by legislation is made more explicit in a speech delivered the following day by the Minister for Mental Health to the External Reference Group charged with developing a new national service framework for mental health (Boateng 1998). Here, the first aim of the governments 'new vision' for mental health is described as 'to protect the public and provide safe and effective care for those with severe and enduring mental illness'. In his conclusion, the Minister re-emphasised the need to win public confidence by making society 'a place of greater safety for those living with mental illness, be they patients, their carers or neighbours in the wider community (our italics).
