Activists rallied in Melbourne to call for greater rights for people with mental illness on September 16.
The rally was called by the Australian Mental Health Human Rights and Law Reform Coalition to condemn abuses in the Victorian mental health system.
The September 3 Age reported that “figures from the Department of Health show 975 people under the care of Victoria’s mental health system have died unnatural, unexpected or violent deaths between 2006 and 2010”.
Speakers at the rally also condemned the increasing use of electric shocks on people admitted to mental health care.
Rally organiser Greg Oke told Green Left Weekly: “People’s human rights are being denied on a daily basis. We need a Royal Commission into the Victorian mental health care system.”