Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to first of all thank Senator Smith for the question and acknowledge the work that he is doing in this area. I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge all those in this chamber who have participated in assisting both me and government to come to the position we have.

Today, with the Prime Minister, Minister Ley and Minister Watt, I met with Lena Andrews from Fitzroy Crossing, Norma Ashwin from Leonora and her children Sharnice, Rowan and Caeden, who shared the story of their loss. Every single death and tragedy in this area breaks all our hearts. The Indigenous rate of self-harm is twice the national rate and, very tragically, it is five times the rate for young people. It is a problem about which, in the past, with great intent, we—all of us—have tried different things. I can remember, for those who were around in 2010, that I called for and we tried—a number of us on all sides—to agitate for what needed to work. Obviously, the first thing I did when I came here was to commission a review about what worked in the Australian context, to do a comparative analysis of what worked. Again, I thank others in the chamber for their contribution to that report. Today, with Lena, Norma and the kids, we launched that report: the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention evaluation project report. It is a bit of a mouthful, so ATSISPEP it remains.

There are a number of other issues that we dealt with. We had a critical response initiative that we did about halfway through the report that indicated we needed a flying squad to come in and help the families in communities at a particular time. It is a relatively small investment. We believe all the evidence at the moment is that it is working very, very well. But this sets us on a path of an evidence based response into the future. (Time expired)