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

I rise today to thank everyone who attended a summit on youth suicide which I hosted on Saturday 11 August, 2012 and which was held at the City of Casey council chambers. It was attended by well over 200 people. This summit, which I am pleased to say has been extensively covered by local newspapers led by the Star News Group, was about our youth. It was about giving them a voice to allow them in a community setting to talk about the challenges they have been facing in our community. It was also about those who had lost loved ones and friends and how we can as a community work together to address the issue of youth suicide and to create awareness of the preventative measures, community awareness and resources that are available to save the lives of young people in our community. The summit came about because some of our young people were approaching me and wanting to tell their stories; it was progressed as a consequence of further discussions with many of the excellent service providers we have in the region in education, mental health and community services.

Our first discussion about youth suicide occurred during a meeting in my office in December last year. We met a group of young staff members who were there on condition of anonymity to talk about the death of a young co-worker and to relate how it happened. From that conversation it was quite clear to me that there was intense anger and a fear of openly talking about what had happened. But they wanted to make sure that I had heard their story, even if it meant meeting in secret. We met again to talk over this issue earlier this year. It was clear they wanted a few solid outcomes: first, for their story be told and, second, for the community to become more engaged. They felt silenced by the community and by their workplace.

At roughly the same time, I met some young people: the youth ambassadors from the city of Casey. These city of Casey study tour leaders spoke openly about the challenges and pressures they face. I have always valued the frankness of the feedback I receive from these discussions, and I thank the City of Casey for the program which enables this interaction between our young people and political representatives. At these roundtables I have been fortunate over a number of years to engage with young people in our community to talk about the issues they are dealing with in their lives and how they are handling them. Issues mentioned range from school bullying to the immense pressure of being required to define, when they are as young as 16 or 17, who they will be as adults.

What has emerged in the past twelve months from many of these conversations is an incredibly serious issue. The young people talked about peers and friends committing self-harm and suicide. This understandably has caused these young people intense distress. But they wanted an engaged community discussion—an informed discussion—about what had been occurring even until recently and what needed to be done to prevent their friends and loved ones from taking their lives.

When I determined to host this summit and my intention became public, what struck me was the number of people who came forward who had been touched by youth suicide and who related story after story of their own loss or the loss suffered by someone they knew and expressed their intense frustration that they were not able to talk publicly about what had happened. They felt confronted by a wall of silence in the community, which was not giving them permission to discuss their loss. But many wanted the opportunity and wanted awareness in the community about youth suicide.

It was also of incredibly deep concern to me that young people feel that they have to shoulder the burden of support to those contemplating self-harm and those who have lost loved ones and friends. I am concerned that the understandable silence that surrounds the issue of youth suicide creates a belief that we as a community do not want to hear from young people or to provide support. That results in our young people feeling too ashamed, too guilty and too stigmatised to put up their hand and ask for help. That belief quite clearly is not correct, but we must do whatever we can do address and correct it. One thing that I am increasingly aware of—and the young people who read or listen to this speech must be aware of it too—is the deep concern on the part of schools, parents, community leaders and service providers about our young people's wellbeing.

I was extremely pleased to be joined at the summit by Professor Patrick McGorry, a pioneer in the field of adolescent mental health who was Australian of the Year in 2010 and is the Executive Director of Orygen Youth Health. At the summit, Patrick McGorry made it clear that 'suicide is preventable, but to solve the problem we must first talk about it'.

Unlike the road toll, which has reduced by one third to 1,600 deaths a year and continues to decline, suicide remains a taboo subject and is sidelined in social policy. Our lack of conversation around the topic has only endorsed the silence that surrounds our young people, who often feel too ashamed, too guilty and too stigmatised to put up their hand and ask for help. By asking a young person about these feelings we give them permission to talk and, in most cases, they will feel relieved and better able to deal with the issue.

I am proud of the young people in my electorate and I was very proud to host this summit. I believe it will lead to further discussions to prevent a tragedy that has been occurring on our doorstep for some period of time.