With regard to your first question, concerning the access to the justice system, I was going to say that.... I don't know whether I'll ever come back here, so if I don't, let me say that if legal aid ever comes across your desks, you should up the legal aid budget, especially for people who suffer from mental health issues. Those are the people who are desperately in need of legal aid and who desperately need their own lawyers. That is part of it: access to justice from that perspective.
The problem, though, is that codifying it codifies it on the opposite side of the adversarial divide. What these individuals need are people who can help them navigate it from their perspective. In the way it's done now in the amendment, it is put in the hands of a probation officer. I think that puts it on the wrong side of things.
Just following from what my friend said, the probation officer isn't even allowed to ask, “What were you thinking at the time of the offence?” At the time they're doing a pre-sentence report they're not supposed to ask that question; they're not supposed to be asking about the offence, because there might be appeals, etc.
That's the other side of it. There needs to be mental health support on their side.