Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I certainly endorse the comments of my fellow Labor senator here, Senator Carol Brown, and I'm very happy to put on the record the praise with which she is spoken of in the electorates I've visited in New South Wales for her care for the disability sector and the important work she is doing in that region.

I rise to speak to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme report on the provision of services under the NDIS for people with psychosocial disabilities related to mental health conditions, and I do that with a particular sense of responsibility, because I'm very pleased to have the role of assisting the member for Franklin, Julie Collins, in her role as the shadow minister for mental health and assisting her particularly with young people. By 2019-20 a total of 64,000 people with psychosocial disabilities related to a mental health condition will become NDIS participants. That is 13.9 per cent of the total expected participants in the NDIS. However, people with mental illness will continue to require services even if they're not participants in the NDIS, and all governments need to provide that continuity of support for people with psychological disabilities who are not eligible for the NDIS.

Just yesterday, I met with Tony Stevenson, National CEO of the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia, MIFA, who visited me on one of his rounds of advocacy for this very important national issue. MIFA is a peak body consisting of longstanding membership-based organisations. It's a fantastic organisation delivering specialist place-based community building programs, with a strong focus on recovery and on lived experience. Currently MIFA has over 100 front doors across Australia, with over 50 per cent of its staff having lived experience as a consumer or a carer, such as a parent or a child. In the last parliament I recall being at hearings in Sydney with Senator Moore, who is in the chamber this afternoon, taking evidence on mental illness. I particularly recall the power of the testimony that we received from people who had lived experience themselves or were in families with people whose lived experience of mental ill-health provided incredible challenges for the whole family to confront and manage and overcome. Yesterday, Mr Stevenson stressed to me the importance of each and every one of us remembering that not everyone with a psychosocial disability will be a participant in the NDIS. MIFA collaborates and has connections with service providers and organisations in every single state in Australia, including organisations such as Suicide Prevention Australia, the national peak body for the suicide prevention sector.

Earlier today I moved a motion in the Senate noting that this Sunday coming, 10 September, is World Suicide Prevention Day. I'd like to make a few comments with regard to this. World Suicide Prevention Day aims to increase awareness about the problem of suicide and the many ways each of us can work together to reduce suicide. This year, the theme for Suicide Prevention Day is 'Take a minute, change a life'. And that's all it could take—one minute of talking to someone to actually change the trajectory of a decision that they might make with a very long term consequence to a temporary solution to a problem. This theme complements the work undertaken by R U OK? Day, which encourages all of us to take the time to notice what's going on with our families, our friends, our colleagues and ourselves. Next Thursday, 14 September, we will be highlighting R U OK? Day. It is a day that reminds all of us that, if we're worried about someone, we have to take time to start meaningful conversations and to take time out to notice one another and to respond to the people who live around us, in whatever context we might find ourselves. There are four simple steps to this: to ask, to listen, to encourage action and then to check in with the person and see how things are going.

It's very important for all of us to remember that suicide prevention is something that's the responsibility of each one of us. At this time in Australia's history, suicide is, very sadly, the leading cause of death for men and women between the ages of 15 and 24, and that is simply not okay. In 2015, more than 3,000 Australian men and women lost their life to suicide. This is an average of 8.3 deaths by suicide every single day. When we say these numbers—and there are many numbers recorded on the Hansard in this place—the reality of losing eight lives to suicide across this country has a powerful and significantly awful effect on the whole community. Those 8.3 statistical numbers are real people having an impact on their community. Sadly, the figures that I'm citing to you here today represent the highest suicide rate in 15 years. One death by suicide is too many. An estimated 65,000 Australian men and women also attempt suicide. That is not okay.

These heartbreaking statistics are a stark reminder of the need for a coordinated effort across government and community to reduce suicide in Australia. The seriousness of Australia's mental health and suicide burden reminds all of us that we have to do more to reduce the thousands of Australian lives that are lost each year.

Sadly, suicide continues to disproportionately impact Indigenous communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are twice as likely to die by suicide than non-Indigenous people. Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged between 15 and 17 had a suicide rate more than five times that of their non-Indigenous peers. That is not okay.

We must work together—all of us—to reduce the rates and the impact of mental ill-health and suicide in Australia. Research tells us that suicide is mostly preventable, and we can all play a part in that. At this point in time I'd like to record an incident that shocked me in my experience as a teacher. It was at a year 12 farewell day. Having finished his schooling, a young man I had taught came up to me, and his farewell was a little unusual. He said, 'I want to thank you for taking the roll.' He did it in that grumbly way that teenage boys can do. I asked him to repeat it. He said, 'Thank you for taking the roll, Miss.' I was a little puzzled by what he said. I said to him, 'Did you just thank me for taking the roll?' He said, 'Yes, Miss, because I was thinking about suicide and the only thing that stopped me was knowing that you would miss me when you took the roll.' Now, you don't realise the power of a single conversation with a person when it comes to preventing suicide. And, certainly, I didn't have any sense of what taking the roll was doing. In the essence it proved one thing to me: what we have to do is see people. We busily move around in our lives but we have the opportunity to stop and to notice those who come into our field of view, and people for whom we have some responsibility—and that is everyone. That's everyone we interact with.

So, from the smallest things like that, everyone can do more to reduce the loss of thousands of Australians lives every year. Everyone can be a part of creating a suicide-safe Australia. That's why Labor has offered to work with the Turnbull government in bipartisanship to address this significant national challenge. A lot of great work has already been done. But we can all do more and we can and must do better. As I have already said, one death by suicide is too many. We are always continuously inspired by the efforts of dedicated individuals and organisations such as Suicide Prevention Australia and the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia, who are working to address suicide prevention and to tackle the stigma around mental ill-health. It is up to all of us to establish systems of care as well as actions of care and conversations of care with people we interact with daily. We can do more to take notice. We can do more to ask the question, to check in with people after we've encouraged them to seek help and to make sure that we take responsibility for our fellow Australians to keep them well and help them to get over the crises that are a part of living. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.