Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing I present the committee's report entitled Before it's too late: inquiry into early intervention programs aimed at preventing youth suicide, together with the minutes of the proceedings.

In accordance with standing order 39(f) the report was made a parliamentary paper.

In approaching this inquiry into early intervention programs and preventative youth suicide, the committee was concerned that while suicide accounts for a relatively small proportion of deaths overall in Australia each year—around 1.5 per cent for the population as a whole—among young people suicide rates remain disproportionately high. Statistics from 2009 indicate that suicide was responsible for one in four deaths of young Australian men under the age of 25 and around one in seven young women in that same age group. The committee felt that this regrettable situation warranted further investigation. The report I tabled today is the culmination of that investigation. It is based on the work of the current committee and its predecessor in the 42nd Parliament, which had carriage of the inquiry until the 2010 federal election was called.

The inquiry was informed by a series of roundtable discussions that were conducted between February 2010 and February 2011. During these roundtable discussions, the health and ageing committee heard from a range of organisations—some of which promote mental health, wellbeing and resilience among young people—and, most importantly, from young people who had themselves gone through processes. The information from these discussions was also supplemented by many, many written submissions.

An important starting point for the committee was evidence which suggested that measures taken by successive govern­ments had resulted in a decline in youth suicide rates. The committee was keen to learn more about how these measures had contributed to this decline and how to be able to identify what more might need to be done to continue this downward trend. Therefore, the focus of the committee's investigation was on early intervention and prevention.

The committee's findings are presented in the report, along with a number of recom­mendations which, if implemented, the committee believes could contribute to a further reduction in youth suicide rates. The committee believes that school based social development and mental health education programs are likely to have a significant impact on preventing suicide by promoting wellbeing and resilience among young people. A key recommendation is for the inclusion of this type of education in the national curriculum for all primary and secondary school students. Early detection of young people in need of assistance and referral to the appropriate assistance services is also extremely critical to the prevention of youth suicide.

The committee also acknowledges the significant additional support announced under the government's 2010-11 federal budget for programs and services to improve mental health and wellbeing, including measures which specifically target young people and suicide prevention. Many of those measures announced align very well with the recommendations made by the committee in the report.

As I mentioned previously, the com­mittee's inquiry was informed by discussion with young people who had varying experiences with youth suicide, some having lost their family members, siblings or friends, and others who had themselves contemplated or even attempted suicide. It was very moving at that roundtable to hear those young people tell us what they had been through, what assisted them and how they had got out of that terrible period in their lives. In particular, the committee would like to express its sincere thanks to those young people who provided confi­dential yet very candid first-hand accounts of their own experiences. Their contribution was absolutely invaluable and has provided the basis on which this committee has formulated many of its recommendations.

In closing, I thank all the committee members, especially my deputy chair, Steve Irons, the secretariat, all the witnesses who spoke in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth and, of course, those who made written submissions. I commend the report to the House.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing report tabled today titled Before it's too late: report on early intervention programs aimed at preventing youth suicide. I also endorse heartily the speech given by the member for Hindmarsh, who is chairman of the committee.

The report focused on early intervention programs aimed at preventing youth suicide. I probably do not have enough time today so I look forward to this matter being referred to the Main Committee. The report covered two parliaments, being the 42nd and now the 43rd parliament. I was very pleased when, in the 42nd parliament and under the same chairmanship, we decided to do this inquiry even though the Senate was running an inquiry on suicide. As it states in our report, we felt that, if our inquiry was appropriately focused, it would complement the inquiry by the Senate Standing Committee on Com­munity Affairs. It was good to see the committee in the 43rd parliament decide to continue and finish this report. I also again acknowledge the strong support given by the member for Hindmarsh to finish this inquiry.

When I initially requested the committee to look into youth suicide it was because of my personal involvement with groups such as Youth Focus, Esther Foundation and SIDS and Kids. It was also because I had met with parents and families who had experienced the loss of their children through suicide. We know as humans that we are all going to have to deal with the loss of loved ones whether through natural causes, accidents or suicide.

As much as we prepare ourselves for tragedies, we find it hard to cope with such a loss. I was inspired by the strength of the people I met and the way they coped with their losses. Such losses have a ripple effect throughout our society, from the parents and the siblings of the children to the friends and the communities where the children lived. We can see that from the evidence we took, with cluster suicides now unfortunately becoming more common.

This effect was brought home to me in 2004 through the loss of my sister Margaret, who had an accident as a result of binge drinking—an incident which was reported nationally. It was a devastatingly emotional time for me, my family and hundreds of her friends. Even more recently, a friend of mine, Cherlye, has related her personal and family tragedy through the loss of her 11-year-old daughter Lauren to a brain tumour. These are examples of losses that people experience through the early death of children, friends or family.

I speak about these personal experiences to bring a human touch to the launch of this report about the loss of far too many of our most precious resource: the children and youth of our communities. As a nation we provide many millions of dollars to prevent road accidents and deaths in the workplace. I hope this report will encourage our nation to provide and support early intervention programs that will reduce the number of suicides, whether by youths or older people, who take this step for many differing reasons.

It is important to note that suicide is the second most common cause of death in young people, after transport accidents, which in some years account for up to 44 per cent of youth deaths. With just that one factor the committee decided to publish a discussion paper drawing together the evidence that had already been presented, highlighting emerging themes and inviting comment from those who had participated in the inquiry to date. The themes presented in the discussion paper were broadly categ­orised as collaboration, mental health literacy and gatekeeper training.

The discussion paper also outlined a number of policy proposals that had emerged during 2010 to address youth mental health issues and reduce the rate of youth suicide. These policy proposals were the need for more frontline services, including psych­ological and psychiatric services; additional support for communities affected by suicide; targeting those who are at greatest risk of suicide; promoting mental health and wellbeing among young people; additional youth headspacesites; and, additional early psychosis prevention and intervention centres.

One area that emerged from the inquiry was the level of concern that the statistics of youth suicide are not nationalised and many states kept differing records. This needs to be addressed. Statistics on suicide in Australia are available from a number of sources. National data on suicide is published in some years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent, published in 2007, contains summary statistics on deaths registered in 2005 where the cause of death was deter­mined to be suicide. Even more recent, although less comprehensive, statistics on suicide in Australia are published annually in the ABS Causes of Death report.

I conclude by again supporting heartily the recommendations of this report. I look forward to continuing my speech in the Main Committee.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Question agreed to.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39 the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.