Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to start by acknowledging the people here today and around the country who have a lived experience both of mental illness and of suicide, and I especially acknowledge the people who have been bereaved by suicide. This is something that is very close to my heart.

I would also like to start by saying that there shouldn't be a divide. We should all be working together on this important issue. There is not one side and another. We are, and need to be, the fire in the middle that brings everyone together so that we're working and going in the one direction. I think we owe it to the people of Australia to all be working together on suicide prevention.

This is something that, as a former Defence Force member and a veteran, has impacted on my life quite regularly. Only recently, the day after Anzac Day, I was notified via a phone call that a friend of mine, Brad Carr, had died by suicide. I was with the Prime Minister at the time, and we were walking up to do a press conference. I took a minute. I had the PM throw his support around me and say, 'You don't have to go on if you don't want to. You don't have to go to the press pack.' I thought the best way to honour my friends who have died is to go on, and it is to push into being uncomfortable, because I truly believe that we should all be working together, and I truly believe that, if we don't talk about suicide and if we don't talk about mental illness, we will only go backwards. I did the press conference. They didn't know. I then spoke with the Prime Minister further about it, and then with the mother of Brad Carr.

It's so distressing that our community in the north has these high suicide rates and that the Defence Force and the veteran community have high suicide rates. But I want to be very clear: it's not a veteran issue or a defence issue—it's a societal problem. That's the only way we should be and need to be looking at it. This isn't about a time where we just wear a pin or a badge, or say, 'Are you okay?' on one day, or talk about suicide on a specific day. It's about how we do it every day. How do we work together every day to ensure that everyone is okay? We only have one life, and it's extremely important.

There are so many services in Townsville, but I want to highlight just one today, and that is the Townsville Suicide Prevention Network. The TSPN website says:

The Townsville Suicide Prevention Network (TSPN) plays a key role in coordination, collaboration and resource exchange within the Townsville area to build our community’s capacity as a foundation for the development of effective suicide prevention initiatives.

TSPN is an unincorporated association auspiced by selectability.

TSPN was established in 2015 in response to continuing high rates of suicide in our city.

The broad-based membership of TSPN includes people with lived experience, government and non-government organisations, community groups, sporting clubs, students, academics, mental health professionals, small and large businesses, and any concerned individuals. TSPN have facilitated the development of a community action plan to prevent suicide in Townsville. The website continues:

TSPN adheres to the LIFE Framework (Living is for Everyone) – Australia’s national framework for suicide prevention which provides a national strategy for action based on the best available evidence to guide activities aimed at reducing the rate at which people take their own lives.

The LIFE Framework is based on the understanding that: • suicide prevention activities will do no harm • that there will be community ownership and responsibility for action to prevent suicide • that service delivery will be client-centred The work of the TSPN has been guided by the Queensland Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2015 – 2017 (currently in review) – a plan that aims to reduce suicide and its impact on Queenslanders, and is a step towards achieving a 50 per cent reduction in suicides in Queensland within a decade.

The Queensland Suicide Prevention Action Plan outlines priorities that include stronger community awareness, improved service system responses, focused support, and a stronger and more accessible evidence base to drive continuous improvements.

I want to highlight that suicide prevention is everyone's responsibility. I feel that sometimes we forget that. I also feel that we need to be working together. This is all of our responsibility. Every life matters.

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