Reflecting on Responses to the Four Corners’ ‘Brutal Force’ Investigation

MHCN notes the ABC Four Corners program episode aired on 1 June which exposed unacceptable police violence against mental health consumers. In response, NSW’s peak body represeting mental health consumers, BEING, on 2 June 2026 issued an urgent call to the NSW Government to take action to end the over-criminalisation of mental health distress, to fund alternatives to police responses to mental health crises, and to provide better training to police and ambulance for those occasions when they are involved. In a joint letter to NSW Police, MHCN and BEING also asked for annual public reporting to the NSW Parliament on the number of people experiencing mental health crises who are shot or injured by police.

The Australian Society of Psychiatrists (ASoP) said that while police officers are often placed in difficult circumstances and are frequently called upon to fill gaps in the mental health system, law enforcement should not be the default response to a health emergency. ASoP noted that the NSW Upper House Inquiry into Community and Outpatient Mental Health Care examined this issue in detail and recommended the development of a health-led response to mental health emergencies, informed by successful interstate models and called on the NSW government to implement this recommendation.
On behalf of families and carers of people with mental ill health, MHCN strongly backs these calls. They are critical to improve confidence in our public mental health and police systems. When carers of people with mental health issues want to get help for someone having a mental health crisis, they should not have to try and calculate if getting that help risks involving police, who could potentially increase the risks to life and wellbeing. They should have confidence in a planned, ethical, professionally delivered response that can competently de-escalate risks for all concerned.

Therefore, along with BEING and ASoP, MHCN calls on the NSW Government to urgently:
• Release a discussion paper on options to reduce the unnecessary involvement of the police in mental health crises.
• Include in this discussion paper a review of the sections of the Mental Health Act 2007 which require police to be involved in mental health crises with a view to allowing health led responses.
• Enhance the capacity of the mental health system itself so it can both prevent mental health crises from arising and respond more effectively without the presence of police.
• Support the co-design of models of care, including peer led crisis responses.
• Improve the skills and knowledge of police and ambulance staff so they can respond more effectively in mental health crises.
• Provide a draft for discussion of the revised Memorandum of Understanding between police, ambulance, and health around shared care of people with mental health issues.
• Enact a Human Rights Bill in NSW so that statutes such as the Mental Health Act have human rights principles and practices embedded.

Click here to read BEING’s Media Release

Click here to read The Australian Society of Psychiatrists Media Release