The Tasmanian Government has defended the time it has taken to introduce new mental health legislation.
The Mental Health Tribunal drew attention in its annual report to the delay.
The tribunal says the current laws increase the stigma surrounding mental health issues by focussing on punitive measures.But the Health Minister Lara Giddings says the laws are complicated and have taken many attempts to perfect.
"We were trying on a very ambitious time line to get that legislation to the parliament this year," she said."Unfortunately, I believe we're up to about our 16th draft of that complex legislation."
