Reactions to Vic mental health inquiry

REACTION TO THE ROYAL COMMISSION'S FINAL REPORT INTO VICTORIA'S MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM

* "The system has catastrophically failed to live up to expectations and is woefully unprepared for current and future challenges." - Commission chair Penny Armytage.

* "Today we have a once in a generation opportunity, an opportunity to reach across the divide and set right those many wrongs. To rebuild our mental health system from the ground up and reform." - Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews

* "As a member of parliament, I stand here embarrassed so many of you have been let down so badly by a system that we collectively built to keep you safe." - Victorian opposition leader Michael O'Brien

* "We must never lose sight of what people need, never lose of why we started this or who we started it for." - Victorian Mental Health Minister James Merlino

* "The government has starved the system and checked it into a hospital to find out what's wrong. The diagnosis is chronic underfunding." - Victorian Greens health spokesman Tim Read

* "This isn't tinkering. This is wholesale reform." - Victorian Council of Social Service CEO Emma King

* "The reforms will have a profoundly positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of Victorians. Undoubtably, lives will be saved." - Mental Health Victoria CEO Angus Clelland

* "The report is a sobering look at the state of Victoria's mental health system. But it is also brimming with possibility for genuine and transformational change." - Australian psychological society CEO Dr Zena Burgess

* "The cycle has to change, and we know that police can't continue to simply collect people in crisis, take them to a hospital for them to be turned away and simply be confronted by police in the streets again." - Police Association Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt

* "We welcome the recognition of the negative impacts of discrimination, racism and stigma on mental health, and the need to address institutional discrimination." - Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria Chair Eddie Micallef

* "'On first reading we support all of the recommendations and we look forward to working with the government to ensure mental health nurses and nurse-led models, particularly in the community, are part of the solutions." - Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch) assistant secretary Madeleine Harradence