The ACT Police Minister responded 12/8/2019 (see link below) to a previous email 22/7/2019.

The Minister's response is disappointing. It claims "police officers, ambulance paramedics, and healthcare workers undertake ongoing training in mental health conditions, including the treatment of patients with autism spectrum disorder". We have severe doubts that this is true, especially in relation to police, so we requested evidence of this ongoing training under the provisions of the Cwth Freedom of Information Act 1982, and the ACT Freedom of Information Act 2016 in the case of ambulance paramedics.

The Minister's response also fails to understand the issues raised, especially that expected/anticipated police attendance was the reason for suicide threats. Clearly, this does not justify the Minister's conclusion.

Fortunately, the police on the ground appropriately decided to not attend ... though a similar decision is uncertain in future.

The Minister simply does not appreciate that mental health services in the ACT typically refuse to engage with autistic people.

No one discussed the PACER initiative with representatives of the ACT ASD community.

See also https://sofasd.org.au/d7/node/226 for correspondence leading to this, and https://sofasd.org.au/d7/node/229 for the follow up.