Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support and commend the motion put forward by the member for Hindmarsh and also to support the inaugural R U OK? Day on 29 November. As members would be aware from my previous speeches, I have close links with Youth Focus, a youth suicide prevention organisation in my electorate of Swan. Tonight I want to concentrate particularly on youth suicide. The first part of this motion notes that a suicide rate of 14 persons per 100,000 has been the norm in Australia for much of the 20th century. It is disappointing that successive governments have failed to make any significant inroads into this problem over time. The latest data from the ABS shows that Australia has a youth suicide rate of 8.3 per 100,000, and the statistics show a rate of 12.3 for males and four for females aged between 15 and 24.

As members would be aware, Mr Georganas is Chair of the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing and I am the deputy chair. Last week I met with the member for Hindmarsh to discuss the issue and I am pleased to say that we both agreed to work towards getting a roundtable on youth suicide for the health and ageing committee. I am pleased that we are both committed to dealing with this issue and I believe this roundtable could have the potential to save lives.

This will be the inaugural R U OK? Day and I look forward to participating in it and letting my electorate know about it. Tonight my 17-year-old son is down at schoolies or leavers in the south-west of Western Australia, so I sent him a message, ‘Are you okay?’ and he has sent back a message to say at the moment he is okay, but I have asked him to send me messages twice a day while he is down there. But I gladly support this motion and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak.

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