Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to express my support for and to commend the motion put by the member for Hindmarsh. This motion noted the tragically high rate of suicide in this country—which is some 14 people per 100,000—as well as the disproportionately large number of suicides in rural and regional areas. According to the ABS statistics, approximately 2,500 people die by suicide each year. Of course, there are many more people out there who think about committing suicide. That is a great worry to us as well. More Australians die by suicide than die on our roads each year. We do not talk about it and we do not see on the news the tragedy of suicide, but we do see road deaths almost daily in our local papers and on the news at night. Suicide is the biggest killer of men and women aged between 15 and 35.

This motion also notes the establishment of R U OK? and the national R U OK? Day on Sunday, 29 November. This will be the inaugural R U OK? Day, which, as they say, aims to inspire all Australians to reach out to anyone doing it tough in order to prevent little problems becoming big ones. R U OK? Day is about taking the time to talk to friends and loved ones and to ask them if they are okay. It is supported by respected organisations such as beyondblue, the Black Dog Institute, Lifeline, headspace, SANE Australia and the Australian General Practice Network.

I would like to mention some of the wonderful work these charities are doing for the drought affected communities in my electorate of Maranoa. Last year the Black Dog Institute organised two ‘tie up the black dog’ meetings in my electorate: one in Goondiwindi and one in Roma. These were held in the middle of winter—and in the middle of winter out in western Queensland it gets well below freezing at night—and in the middle of the week. Not many people would normally come out in the middle of the week in the middle of winter to listen. I was staggered to see that there were over 1,000 people in those two towns, Goondiwindi and Roma, who turned out to attend those meetings. There were many concerned wives, relatives and friends who were interested in attending and, of course, many men as well.

I was devastated by the impact that suicide was having. Perhaps I was not was not reading my electorate in that regard. But that was an example of people voting with their feet—coming forward to listen to what those presenters had to say and to hear the stories so that they might help them identify others who may be thinking about, tragically, taking their own lives. I want to express also my support for the motion of the member for Hindmarsh because there are so many people in my electorate who have been affected by suicide—whether it is a relative, a friend or a workmate, suicide has become a tragic statistic in the lives of people of Maranoa, who are suffering through one of the nation’s longest and harshest droughts.

Just a fortnight ago I met with the drought support counsellor in South Burnett, which is at the eastern end of my electorate. The Burnett region had its exceptional circumstances revoked by the federal government in June this year. Whilst it is a very difficult job for NRAC to do, this area and many other parts of my electorate should not have come out of EC at that time. In fact, the state agricultural minister wrote to me and said he did not believe that the buffer zones should not be reinstated. They were not. He also said that this area, particularly the South Burnett region, should not lose exceptional circumstances classification. This charitable organisation has spent some $16,000 of government emergency relief money and with that money they have helped 488 families. I have to ask the question: what would have happened to those families without that meagre amount of money to help them on a day-to-day basis? This drought counsellor is a very strong and lovely lady. She said that this drought has really fractured communities. She said that people are only so resilient and then they start to retreat into themselves, and that is when the community crumbles.

Tomorrow will mark two years since the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry was given the opportunity to become the minister for one of the most important sectors of the Australian economy. I say to the minister for agriculture: these regions should not have come out of drought relief. The drought counsellor in that region said to me that in a six-month period in the last 12 months she went to over 25 funerals—most of those were farmers who had taken their own lives; some were small business people. I say to the minister: reinstate a health card and income support. With only 32 days to go to Christmas, show some compassion and support these families. Anything that can be done to prevent suicide is something that is worthwhile doing. (Time expired)

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