Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

If you break your arm, you can see it. You can explain how it happened. If you've got a heart condition, you can feel it. You can get it treated. Get a stent, get a bypass. But, if you have a mental health condition, you hide it. You become self-conscious about it. There is a stigma attached to it. But there's one thing worse, and that is if you are unaware of it.

Today we all have to wear these badges, and generally I don't bother because there seems to be one a day, but this is incredibly important with regard to youth suicide. I want to deal with the stigma to start off with. If you feel that it is a stigma, then it's the same stigma that Gandhi had, that John F Kennedy had, that Abraham Lincoln had, that General Grant had and that Winston Churchill had. It's a stigma that can be channelled in the right direction; as they said about General Grant, he was vastly better in war than he ever was as a president.

There is a downside, though, and that is suicide. The most dangerous person that you are likely to see in your life between the ages of 15 and 44 is in the mirror. If you live in regional areas, it's twice as bad again. If you're in an Aboriginal community, it's horrendous. What has to be noted, obviously, is the people left behind. The tragic occurrence devastates families and stays like a pall over the rest of the lives of everybody who is associated with that family member who died.

I always think about this and I think about the alternate energy that comes from it. One of my favourite readings from the Bible is Corinthians 15:10:

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace, which was bestowed on me, was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

I listen to that and I think of the positive energy that can go in such a good direction, but it's the same energy that can become the poison—the poison that destroys people, the poison that goes on to try and self-medicate, the poison that becomes the chaotic energy heading in thousands of different directions at the same time, tearing apart all those who are somehow associated with it.

Today is the launch of the End Youth Suicide campaign. It is a day when we must reflect on the work done by Lifeline, Beyond Blue, headspace, the Black Dog Institute and the Butterfly Foundation in the area of mental health that also encompasses such things as anorexia, which unfortunately I've also had to deal with—not me, but those very close to me.

But today, most pertinently—and I will not mention their name—I have a very good mate and a wonderful family who've had to deal in the last week with this kind of tragedy. I'll write a letter when I can work out what to say to this family. When you think about it, it is so pertinent that we should be acknowledging this day and trying to do something about this scourge. It's twice as likely as having a car accident. In Australia, suicide is three times as likely as dying from COVID.

I want to acknowledge all those, like Professor Parker, whose diligent efforts in this area have done so much for the psychologists and the psychiatrists. But, on a day like today, I want to wish and offer my deepest condolences, sympathies, prayers and hope to all those families who are dealing day after day, every night and every moment, with the tragedy of suicide within their family.

House adjourned at 20:00

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