Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today, Labor senators have called on the Turnbull government to act on the increasing prevalence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide in Western Australia's Kimberley region. Our motion talked about the findings of one of the reports of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Program, and that was about a roundtable conducted last year in the Kimberley. Obviously, a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders were at that roundtable. The participants who attended the roundtable, which was held in Broome, urged the government to prioritise addressing the social determinants that influence Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing.

For some background, the Kimberley region in Western Australia has the highest suicide rate of any region in the world. That is a very alarming and deeply disturbing statistic to have in Australia; indeed, in Western Australia. Mr Wes Morris, who is a great campaigner up there and runs successful programs, said:

Whilst we await a national response, the Government must recognize that there is a chronic crisis here in the Kimberley ...

Mr Morris is the coordinator of the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre. The centre wrote to the WA Coroner and many others to try to get action on the alarming suicide rate in the Kimberley. I have heard Professor Pat Dodson, who will hopefully be a senator joining us here shortly, and Mr Mick Gooda talk time and time again about the crises of incarceration and suicide. There is clearly a crisis in the Kimberley. It needs to be addressed, it needs bipartisan support and it needs to put the solutions in the hands of local people. There are solutions and good programs. We really have to focus on having the solutions, particularly where it involves Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths. Those solutions must be led by local Aboriginal and, indeed, Torres Strait Islander leaders, not by health professionals or anyone else; they need local solutions. We really do need to act now. The Kimberley roundtable called for exactly that. It called for solutions facilitated by a predominately local Aboriginal workforce. This is essential for the region. Mr Morris urged that the report not sit on a shelf. We are waiting on a bigger report from UWA which is investigating suicides, but we do not need to wait any longer in the Kimberley.

Just a short time ago, there was the shocking suicide of a young 10-year-old girl. Unfortunately, I have to say that, if she had been a non-Aboriginal person, there would be action now. That is the truth. Last year we had the suicide of a young boy in Geraldton and we still do not recognise that there is a crisis that needs urgent attention. I urge us in this parliament to look at how we can act in a bipartisan way, put those local solutions into the communities where they belong and support the solutions already in place.

The roundtable focused on the impact of social determinants. It looked at the need for empowerment of families and communities, mental health issues, trauma, lack of services and responses and came up with the absolute need for local solutions and leadership. I do not think we can ignore the words of Professor Pat Dodson, Mick Gooda and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are telling us that there is a crisis. When we have a 10-year-old girl suicide in the Kimberley, we have to acknowledge that there is a crisis and it is time for us to act right now. We do not need to wait any longer. I certainly urge us to adopt whatever bipartisan approach we can and be united on something that deserves our highest priority. The longer we wait the bigger the problems become. We need solutions now. We do not need to wait for further reports.