Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every avoidable death in Australia is one too many, but certainly there is no greater tragedy than an avoidable death through suicide. Those closest feel so much guilt that they could possibly have prevented it occurring. Many of us will not realise there are 2,100 suicides in Australia every year. While most developed economies do have extraordinarily high levels of suicide, Australia’s is unfortunately one of the highest in the world. There are five suicides a day, and 80 per cent of those are males. In my own age group of 25 to 44, 50 per cent of all Australia’s suicides occur.

Last weekend, 2 and 3 May, there was a national summit on male suicide, ‘Meeting the Challenge!’ It brought together, through the work of Terry Melvin, the efforts of those who work face-to-face with suicide, families that have experienced suicide, business and the non-profit sector in an effort to get a collaborative approach. They came away with 18 recommendations and 12 subrecommendations, if that is any measure of how productive those two days were. I would like to list some of those today. Emeritus Professor Ian Webster acknowledged that our notion of men’s health has so often been limited to the physical and it is time to broaden that very definition. That, I think, was achieved on the weekend.

They recommended that we have a real focus on recurrent support for suicide services, because only then will we bed down the services within communities so that people have faith, trust and awareness in them. They want us to review existing services to make sure that we can identify where the gaps are, both geographically and, of course, within services themselves. They wanted a national men’s health, wellbeing and suicide prevention strategy that is adequately funded—and I can understand they would be pushing all jurisdictions for that. They are seeking that all staff, whether they be police, hospital workers, first responders or even staff in some other areas like pubs and clubs, where males often spend a lot of their time, become more aware of suicide as a health issue. They noted the connection between physical activity and mental health and wanted more of a focus on areas where men are often involved, like sporting clubs, and to encourage physical activity amongst the Australian population. They also noted that outreach and community based services are still inadequate.

They have made a recommendation for a clearing house for best practice and global evidence on reducing suicide, given that the federal government invests around $10 million a year in its National Suicide Prevention Strategy, headed up by Professor Ian Webster. They also made recommendations for improving the national coronial database, having a particular focus on Indigenous suicide and providing health carers with information on the specific needs of Indigenous males and of those with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

I acknowledge John Mendoza, the Chief Executive of the Mental Health Council of Australia. The forum is setting long-term goals and I urge both government and opposition to support them. (Time expired)