In the 1960s and 1970s governments started to move towards the closure the large institutions. Even before this time, two reports on Parramatta had questioned the appropriateness of the institution and public opinion generally, was decrying institutions for children as anachronisms. In mid 1974 Dick Healey, the new Minister for the Department of Youth and Community Services closed Hay and Parramatta and started to overhaul the outdated 1939 Child Welfare Act, under which the institutions had been created and administered. By the time Hay was closed, many people had already expressed concern about it; in August 1962 Hay locals reported screams from within its walls in the local newspaper; also in 1962, Anne Press, a member of the Parliament of New South Wales, visited and then raised concerns about Hay in Parliament; staff working at the institution were also writing letters to the Child Welfare Department and in 1973 child welfare activist Bessie Guthrie convinced ABC journalist Peter Manning, to investigate Hay and Parramatta for an episode of "This Day Tonight". The program screened on the ABC in August 1973.