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

I won't respond to Senator Dastyari's interjection. Too many people in this place are lured in by him in that very way. I congratulate you, Acting Deputy President Kitching, on your first time of serving on the Temporary Chairs of Committees. It's an honour to be in that chair and it's nice to be here on the first occasion of your time in it. Could I also just say in response to the senator's recent contribution that I might not be as young as the senator, but, believe me, I still have plenty of passion in this place for the Australian people. I think we're better when we're all working together—youth and older people; country, city and regions—and that's why I'm very pleased to put on the record tonight some remarks around the suicide prevention trials that I visited in Western Australia.

I am very pleased, frankly, to be assisting themember for Franklin, Julie Collins, in her role as the shadow minister for mental health. Labor is committed to continue to work with the Turnbull government in bipartisanship to reduce the very significant rate of suicide right across this country. We are also committed to rolling out 12 suicide prevention trial sites, as per the National Mental Health Commission recommendation. I'm pleased that the government adopted Labor's position, which was declared early in the 2016 campaign. They indicated eight trial sites initially but moved, finally, to 12. Indeed, there are now 12 suicide prevention trial sites being rolled out, including in the western part of New South Wales.

Since the last sitting period, I've been fortunate enough to spend some time in western New South Wales. I visited the areas of Cobar, Bourke and Brewarrina. I met with inspirational people out there—inspiring mental health service providers and community leaders—who were more than willing to discuss the strengths of their community but also the very concerning issue of suicide prevention, which is on their radar. I met with mental health service providers, the local PHN and community leaders from, as I said, Cobar, Bourke and Brewarrina and Walgett as they were participating in a suicide prevention trial discussion. I welcomed very much this opportunity to meet with mental health service providers and listen to them about what's happening on the ground so that we can find ways to reduce the thousands of lives that are sadly lost to suicide each year. I would, personally, like to thank each one of them for their generosity in sharing their knowledge and insights with me. I acknowledge the passion and dedication they have to the task.

It is extremely encouraging that New South Wales, given the size of our population, has two suicide prevention sites: one in western New South Wales and one on the North Coast, which I will certainly be visiting early in the new year. It is particularly promising that western New South Wales was chosen as a trial site. According to SANE Australia, suicide rates in rural Australia are consistently 40 per cent higher than the rates in metropolitan Australia. Rural and remote areas need policies that are tailored to their needs, which do not necessarily translate to the same as those in urban areas. My home place is only an hour and a half north of Sydney, but it might as well be 500 miles away for many people because of the limitation on access to services and the challenge of putting petrol in their car when they're in insecure employment and have, perhaps, one child who is unwell. These are the sorts of pressures that mount on people that end up putting them into a frame of mind where they see a tunnel and hopelessness descends. We need to be able to interrupt that and we need to be able to do it particularly for our Indigenous people—our first nation people.

In the four local government areas chosen in Western Australia, first nation people are very significantly represented. It is extremely encouraging that the western New South Wales PHN identified first nation people as a high-priority group for the trial site. But, as Senator Williams is here, I think they've got room for a few broken-down shearers, as you describe some of the people who are out in the bush. So it is a genuine community response, but noticing in that community that there are differentiated needs that require an adequate and differentiated response.

Elders in Brewarrina, first nation elders in particular, made it clear that identity issues are contributing to the experience of mental ill health for our first nation people. We need to make sure that we are listening to the concerns of the first nation people and allowing them their voice in their own community. They made it extremely clear that they have plans to improve the wellbeing of the community. But can I put on the record my alarm at being in a state-of-the-art building for child health—a building that was $2 million in production—and hearing about women in the local area who were part of the CDP, were unable to attend their CDP and were losing their income because there was nowhere safe for them to put their children, despite the fact that there were two childcare rooms ready and waiting for use in that community.