Natasha Stott Despoja (SA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I begin tonight by congratulating the organisers of the annual Suicide Prevention Australia conference that was held in early November in Adelaide, my home city—particularly, Dr Michael Dudley, who is the Chairperson of Suicide Prevention Australia. This conference brought together researchers, academics, practitioners and those with personal experience from both Australia and overseas to discuss a holistic approach to suicide prevention. It was not just researchers and academics discussing statistics and trends with each other but a group actively seeking to share their research, experience as practitioners and successful programs and strategies, as well as of course to discuss the personal experiences of those impacted at an individual level by suicide. This year’s conference had an emphasis on participation and inclusion. The program boasted an impressive array of workshops, symposia, discussions, presentations, debates, poster displays, and there was a healing workshop on the evening before the final day.

From the 1970s to the 1990s in Australia, there was what has been termed a ‘youth suicide epidemic’, followed by a decline in the late 1990s and into this century. This decline coincided with the implementation of a well-funded national youth suicide prevention strategy between 1995 and 1999. That is a message that there are ways and strategies that can be put in place to bring about positive results and that we have to continue to listen and learn from experts in the field, hence the important role of that particular conference in Adelaide.

According to Suicide Prevention Australia, every day seven Australians take their own lives and suicide rates may be much higher than the published statistics. At the moment, we are hearing stories of the tragic effect of the drought on farming families in Australia. I understand that there is an important and delicate balance here. I think something that came out at the conference was the need to challenge the so-called invisibility of suicide and to juggle that need with how suicide is reported in the media and in popular culture such as movies.

Certain sectors of the population may continue to be at far greater risk. For example, recent research suggests a suicide rate in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of 40 per cent above that found in the general population. According to conference material, 25 per cent of suicides are people from the culturally and linguistic diverse communities. Another recent study examined socioeconomic status differentials in suicide and pointed to the fact that, despite overall declines, young male suicide rates in the most recent five-year period—that is from 1999 to 2003—in the low SES group have increased by eight per cent. This has obvious implications for us in terms of social and economic intervention—for example, access to employment income, education and training and housing affordability. All of those are included in the measurement of SES in Australia.

It is also important to look at divergent trends to acknowledge that gains in economic prosperity, reductions in unemployment and improved access to training and education opportunities may not have been distributed evenly across our community and, of course, there are many other risk factors which cut across all social groupings, including depression and mental illness, gender issues, sexuality and age. It is a multifactorial issue and, as a community, we need to look at risk factors for both individuals and groups within the community. There is a need to acknowledge and support members of our community from a diverse range of socioeconomic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

The most confronting statistic that some people are dealing with, and one that came to my attention before speaking at this conference and hearing the pleas from people involved in this sector, was the finding from the annual report, Deaths of children and young people, by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian in Queensland. It reported across Australia, but in Queensland suicide is the leading cause of death for young people 10 to 14 years of age. Seventeen per cent of all deaths in that age group were the result of suicides, and these deaths are underreported at both a state and Commonwealth level.

There is a message here for legislators, apart from the obvious fact that young people are among one of the more vulnerable groups in our community to societal pressures and that we must continually be aware of the need to listen to and really acknowledge those needs and provide support—and also for friends and family who are impacted and for the broader community as well. The things I was being told at this conference were that as politicians we need to listen and to learn. We need to acknowledge and provide legislative and, importantly, funding frameworks which support and are guided by the outcomes of conferences such as this. The conference was keen for me to put on record some of these issues tonight and, accordingly, I do so. But I want to congratulate the organisers and acknowledge that there were international guests who came to Australia to learn from some of the good work that this nation has attempted to do, as indeed our government and governments of all persuasions have. But there is a lot more that we need to do.

I also take this time tonight to acknowledge a very important report entitled Chega! The report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste. I seek leave to table the report. I understand it has the support of the chamber.

Leave granted.

I thank honourable senators. It is the first time, as I understand it, that this report has been tabled in a parliament in Australia. It was presented to Timor-Leste’s President, Xanana Gusmao, on 31 October 2005. He presented it to the parliament of East Timor on 28 November 2005, and it was presented to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, on 20 January this year. It is in fact the most comprehensive record yet of human rights violations, including deaths, displacements, torture, ill treatment and threats in Timor-Leste between 1975 and 1999. It includes testimony from seven national public hearings. Chega makes 205 recommendations—it is a pretty big report of about 2,500 pages—based on its findings in relation to justice, reconciliation, human rights and the relationship between Timor-Leste and other countries, including Indonesia.

Australia is also mentioned in this report. A number of the recommendations relate specifically to Australia, including that Australia contributed significantly to denying the people of Timor-Leste their right to self-determination before and during the Indonesian occupation. Some of the recommendations relating to us include requests for an apology and reparations to the people of Timor-Leste; future military cooperation with Indonesia; the setting up of a joint initiative to establish the truth about the deaths of six foreign journalists in Timor-Leste in 1975 in Balibo; and the return of documents and any other material relating to the events of 1999 and militia activity, which were allegedly removed to Australia for safekeeping after the arrival of the INTERFET in 1999. Another key recommendation in this report is the establishment of a war crimes tribunal, should other measures be deemed to have failed to deliver a sufficient measure of justice and Indonesia persists in the obstruction of justice.

As I understand it, a cross-party launch of this report took place in different cities around Australia, including Canberra, last night. All political parties were involved in that process. What we can hope for is that it will lead to renewed debate about and interest in Timor-Leste’s future, as well as perhaps acknowledging some of the human rights abuses in the past. I think there is a lot that Australia can do. I particularly want to acknowledge the people who were involved in the launch. Specifically in my home state we have the East Timor Friendship Association and Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Unit. A number of people were present at the launches who have been actively involved in the report. Indeed, in Adelaide we had Isabel Guterres, who is one of the commissioners involved in the report. Pat Walsh and Francisco de Silva were guests at that particular event as well, as was Dr Mark Byrne from Uniya. I commend them on their ongoing work and urge the Australian government to look closely at the recommendations that pertain to Australia’s role both in a good and bad way in Timor-Leste. I commend the report to the Senate and thank senators for allowing me to table it tonight.