Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, would like to commend the member for Grey for his very-well-worded motion on suicide prevention, particularly in rural and regional areas, and elsewhere. The member for Grey may know an area called Callington, around Tailem Bend, which is hard farming area. This story relates to a farmer, with a young family, who worked the land. He'd been in the merchant navy and was adjusting to rural life in the area. One fine day he went out in his tractor to check the fence. As he checked the fence, a firearm he had with him discharged, mortally wounding him. He had tried to crawl back to his tractor but he didn't make it—he died. That man was my father's brother, AJ. My father, who died in 2016, took to his grave the hurt and loss of a very treasured, loved brother. The circumstances of his death always left that doubt. So, when the member for Grey raises this very powerful issue, it struck home to me because it was something that my father could never fully comprehend or understand. My cousin—AJ's daughter, Alva—died early, and I believe she was also severely affected by that loss. She struggled with mental illness. They lived around Callington and Carrickalinga. That family never recovered from that loss, so when the member for Grey talks about rural suicide prevention, he has my wholehearted support.

I support the government's funding of these suicide prevention centres, because they can literally save lives. How do I know that? We had a suicide cluster in the region I represent in 2011 and 2012. Coming from a family that had been touched by this, I started seeing the names of young people on bridges I drove past. We had a suicide cluster—it's a horrible term—and I understand it was the same in Albury as well, unfortunately. That led to my partnering with the Australian of the Year, Professor Patrick McGorry. We did a program on Four Cornerscalled 'There's No 3G in Heaven' encouraging the community to talk about the stigma around suicide and to get a conversation happening in our area. As a consequence of that program and the receptiveness of the then federal government and the subsequent Abbott government, two headspaces were opened in the area, in Dandenong and in Fountain Gate. The member for La Trobe, Jason Wood, was there when we opened the one in Fountain Gate; I was there in 2013 when we opened the one in Dandenong. Those made a meaningful change for young people. It's still not enough, but it's part of the matrix of services that kids can access. Those services should be available in rural and regional areas.

I watched the member for Grey's contribution. He mentioned that he had also had some experience with this. Families don't need to go through this. This is a loss. One suicide is one too many. We need to do something as a community, and that's why I welcome the bipartisan way in which the government is providing support. If we can get hubs like these headspaces into these areas, farmers and their families can seek support and start a conversation without stigma and reticence. The member for Grey and others are talking about destigmatisation, so that a farmer like my uncle—a proud, self-sustaining individual in the merchant navy—mightn't feel the need to end his life in the way in which he did on that day, many years ago. I commend the work the member is doing, and support the government. We can never talk about this enough. We should continue to do everything we can to stop these horrible events from happening in rural and regional areas and in our cities.

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