Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great privilege to stand here and talk about a significant report, Before it's too late: report on early intervention programs aimed at preventing youth suicide, which goes to the crux of some of the challenges that we often do not talk about. Certainly as a member of the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing hearing some of the representations from various groups, and having been involved within my electorate with a couple of families who have experienced suicide, I believe this is an important report in some of its recommendations—in particular, the need to coordinate not only between government agencies and between the Commonwealth and the state but with non-government organisations, which play a very key and vital role on the ground in influencing and impacting directly on those who experience moments of doubt or moments of depression or who contemplate suicide.

I was first introduced to this issue, strangely enough, back in the days when I worked for an undertaker. The thing that struck me was the number of people who committed suicide, because in that job I got to have an appreciation for the cause of death. Up until then, as a young 22-year-old, I had had no idea of the extent of the problem that existed. Certainly, now that experience is on my side in terms of life stage, suicide is something that has always sat there, that has been talked about quietly behind closed doors or that is often only talked about when it occurs directly for a family, where people do not understand the circumstances that a young person contemplates in taking their life—or ultimately those outside that.

Our focus was on youth because it is a transition period from being a primary school student or a 12-year-old through to that transition to adolescence and adulthood. I think sometimes that it is an area where we often do not contemplate the range of emotions that a young person experiences or the trials and tribulations that they are often faced with in the context of their social and peer interaction, and certainly within their own thinking, in terms of a professional pathway. I suppose what was most rewarding about the experience the committee had in this context was the brutal honesty of some of the young people in making very strong comment about their needs. I think as adults we make the mistake of not taking the time to listen or to reflect on what is required in order to address the needs and issues that young people are often faced with. One of the things I have always failed to comprehend or grasp is the lack of standardised reporting around suicide, because there are so many variables. I have worked in two jurisdictions in health, and, when we talked about overcoming Indigenous disadvantage for the Productivity Commission's report, the collections did not reflect the reality of what I knew on the ground. In Western Australia we had high rates of suicide in the Kimberley, but, equally, we had suicides—and the families were known to me—that were not reflected in the data.

The committee, in its considerations, talked about having a national standardised data collection that would encompass ethnicity, culture and geography. Geography is absolutely critical to the way decisions are made in the allocation of resources. It would also encompass educational attainment. I suspect, based on the work with the WA Institute for Child Health Research and the WA Aboriginal Child Health Survey that I had some involvement with, there were markers relating to the level of attainment. I noticed that young people who exited year 12 and who had a good grounding in education were in a better position to make informed choices about accessing services and where to direct their energy in seeking assistance. They knew there was a suite of opportunities for them to seek advice, to seek counsel. Particularly in the area of maternal child health, young people who left before year 10 were often constrained by their lack of educational attainment in understanding the opportunities and avenues through which they could seek the type of support that was required.

Employment status was also a factor considered by our committee. If you are unemployed, you have a low level of educational attainment and there are geographic issues, then coping in life becomes more complex, because there are added variables. Another factor that is absolutely critical that has to be considered in the context of a national standardised data collection, through every state and territory and nationally, is socioeconomic status. That is a factor that is often overlooked. It is understood in the conversations, but we do not have any rich information that informs the way in which agencies may respond.

One of the things that intrigues me is that Commonwealth funding, under both governments—the previous government and this government—is often allocated on the basis of responding to a need. But when I sought answers on how the decisions are made against a set of criteria—what is the basis for making those decisions using well-defined data, evidence and trending?—I was somewhat disappointed with the answer I received. It was really based on developing programs and developing policy that was meant to be universal across the nation and within jurisdictions. I often think that in that instance when we make those decisions, having been a public servant previously, we have not used the hard data to show the evidence of the exact degree of need by region and by locality. Until we do that, we will continue to not address the underlying issues that bring young people to a point at which their frustration and their anguish leads them to take their life.

I recently had a call from a constituent, a mother who rang me and said, 'Can you come and see me?' I had a notion that it was to do with a suicide, because I had heard from a club that her son was involved with that he was no longer there. I called in to see the mother, and I sat on her front veranda. She wanted us to use the front veranda so that we would have the opportunity of speaking privately. She said to me, 'You know my son committed suicide,' and I said, 'No, I did not know that exactly, but I had an inkling that that was a challenge that I would have to discuss with you this afternoon, and I am pleased to be here.' And what she talked to me about was the incomprehensible notion that her son had taken his life. I asked her whether there was any sign at any point, or any avenue of help for her. She said she did not know of any avenue of help other than where she could go for advice on his funeral. She said she had no inkling he was going to do this. She came home from work and then they had a conversation. He then spent time tidying up his bedroom and doing things that were not typical. She said that, in hindsight, she wished she had known that that was some indication there was a problem. She said he went about his business and then sat down and had tea with them. He asked for one of his favourite meals. He then spent some more time with the family and then said he was going to bed. But he came back out and asked his mother if he could take the dog in with him. His dog was always with him. She said that, later that morning, she heard him get up and go outside but, because of the nature of his job, she did not give any thought to that. About an hour later she thought to go outside and take a look, and what she found was that he had taken his life. She said to me, 'You and one other person are the only people who have come to talk to me about my anguish, my pain and my lack of understanding as to why my son, who had so much to give and so much to offer and was an integral part of the family, did this.' And his twin is also facing the same issue.

When we talked, what became absolutely apparent to me was that the knowledge of who was available in terms of help or who to turn to for an understanding of the signs and symptoms was just not there. She said that it would have helped if she had she known about and read about suicide. A thing that worried her was the notion of copycat suicides. She said that until we have the intervention, unless we have that type of support for these people——meaning the young men and women who associated with her son—something was likely to happen to another. They felt the grief, and that was certainly evident at the funeral.

This woman has now gone on to work with two gentlemen at the Swan Districts Football Club—in particular, the former West Coast Eagles player Peter Matera. What they have done is bring together the senior Aboriginal women. They have also brought together a whole group of young people to talk about what adults and elders within the community need to understand about suicide and the signs they should look for.

What I like about the work, the report and particularly the thinking of the committee is the need to connect the dots and look at the coordination that must exist between the Commonwealth, states and territories and the non-government sector and within the community. What we often heard was that the non-government sector had a reporting expectation but the sharing of information was not widespread or common. And yet they all had a patch in the suicide prevention field.

What I find sad is that we have a range of programs, often designed and developed by bureaucracies. The committee's report says we should listen to what young people flag as the issues. My colleagues on the committee talked about a roundtable they held in the south-eastern region of Australia. They talked about the richness of the shared experiences that young people provided to them as a committee. What they also found was a depth of feeling about the need for help. I hope that our report, before it is too late, will give young people the opportunity to influence the agenda. We have to think about every point of transaction and interaction between every form of government agency and non-government agency and the communities in which we live and which we influence. We need to think about the ways in which they can reach out and help people who are screaming out for the type of intervention that will set them on a pathway such that they will not take their life. We need to give these people the type of help that they need so that they can build the strength to take the pathway of opportunity that they were destined for. It is sad in our country to see loss of life when we could and should have intervened.

I will be working with my colleagues and many others to ensure that the messages in this report are permeated throughout the communities in which I am involved throughout my election—because I do have challenges in my electorate, as people are now raising this issue with me. And I want to work with them to look at the ways in which we can change and influence others so that we can bring about effective ways of saving lives and providing pathways of hope and opportunity. We need to give families the strength to have the discussions, to reach out, to understand and to influence their young family members so that in the future they will not have to experience grief.

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