Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes with concern that:

(a) over the past five years, the average number of suicide deaths per year in Australia is 2,415;

(b) in 2012, 1,901 males and 634 females died through suicide—an average of 6.9 deaths by suicide every day;

(c) suicide is the leading cause of death in Australia for men under 44 and women under 34; and

(d) Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2009 shows us that more people die from suicide than from road deaths;

(2) recognises that the Government and the community must do everything they can to prevent death by suicide; and

(3) acknowledges all Australian lives lost to suicide and the suffering felt by their friends and families.

The motion is obviously about suicide, and some of the statistics that have been circulated are very concerning. Suicide is a leading cause of death in Australia for men under the age 44 and women under the age of 34. ABS data shows that in 2009 more people died from suicide deaths than road deaths. How tragic is that? Approximately, one million die by suicide each year worldwide. In Australia, more than one in every 10,000 people take their own lives each year. These are the cold hard facts of suicide. Sadly, in my own electorate of La Trobe we are not immune from these tragedies, like all parts of Australia. As a former police officer at Knox criminal investigations branch and Boronia criminal investigations branch, each week our office would attend at least one suspicious death which was a result of suicide.

I cannot recall how many suicide notes I have read, as that is the key to finding out some sort of reason when you undertake an investigation. When you speak to family and relatives the reason never makes sense. I do have a message for people out there. Quite often you will find in suicide notes that they believe the taking of their life would in some way release a burden from others. It does not do that at all. It just causes enormous stress and grief for family members and friends who have to live with this for so many years. I have had several conversations with Minister Dutton and organisations such as headspace in efforts to address some of these concerns. Headspace is a national youth mental health foundation. They help young people who are going through tough times. A headspace facility, and I am so pleased to say this, will be located at Fountain Gate shopping centre in Narre Warren, and I am working very hard to get a headspace unit facility in the Belgrave health hub. I will make this a major priority for the people of the Dandenong Ranges.

Before concluding, I would like to congratulate the member for Holt, because I know he has been a true supporter and has been out there on the front line trying to prevent youth suicide in Latrobe—we have had awful situations in Latrobe. I congratulate him for what he has done.

Recently, through the government's hot spots program, we organised to put up safety barriers along the train lines where some of these youth tragedies have occurred. Sadly, way too many have occurred. The government's hot spots program is an excellent example of practical measures to reduce suicide hot spots, through the implementation of capital works. I congratulate the principal of Kambrya College in Berwick, Mr Michael Muscat, who campaigned tirelessly for these protective barriers.

Another great government initiative is the Living Is For Everyone, LIFE, program. It is an evidence based strategic policy framework for suicide prevention in Australia. The reasons people take their own lives are so complex. The balance between risk factors and protective factors seems to be an indicator of the likelihood of someone taking their own life, the experts say. People who take their own lives usually have many risk factors and few protective factors. But this does not explain everything about suicide. Many people with multiple risk factors do not attempt to take their life, and some who do take their lives have few risk factors. The reasons people take their lives are complex; however, we do know that a significant risk factor can be depression and anxiety.

Also, when I speak to young people at schools I always tell them that when they have messages on Facebook—because cyberbullying is very prevalent now—that a friend does not abuse them and degrade them and bring them down. I always say that rather than looking at that message or conversation every day, just delete it and block that person, because they are not your friend.

There are many organisations here and around the world that try to prevent people from taking their own lives. Beyond Blue is an organisation set up by the previous Victorian premier, Jeff Kennett, in October 2002, and it is doing a fantastic job. In my last conversation with Jeff he was talking about the 'axis of evil'. What comes first is the drugs, or the alcohol, or the depression or the anxiety. The Beyond Blue mission is to focus depression away from a mental health service issue towards one that is understood, acknowledged and addressed by the wider community.

Most Australians have some experience with anxiety, depression or related conditions, whether they have experienced it themselves or had a family member, friend or work colleague go through it. Beyond Blue's work is aimed at achieving an Australian community that understand depression and anxiety, empowering all Australians at any stage of their life to seek help. This seems to be the key. We all need to get people who suffer with depression and anxiety to seek help. You see, depression and anxiety are treatable. But to have it treated you and the people around you need to recognise troublesome depression and anxiety when it presents itself.

With a problem with mental illness, and thinks like depression, there was a stigma attached, especially in the past. Can I say that these days are very much the old days, and people respect you if you inform your work colleagues and others, and obviously friends and family, that you do have depression and anxiety, because they can help you along your journey to recovery.

We are lucky that organisations like Beyond Blue are educating the community about the seriousness of this disease. There are many other fine organisations doing great work in this area: Lifeline, the Black Dog Institute, SANE Australia and headspace are just some of the organisations where people can seek help. That brings me again to my point that the Dandenong Ranges desperately needs a headspace unit, and that would be my priority. As I said before, you and the people around you need to identify the problem. A very good start is your local GP; they can understand and help you get the care and treatment that you need. I would imagine that community awareness is causing more and more people to seek help, and that is obviously a great thing.

Another aspect of suicide that causes unbearable grief is for the people who are left behind when someone takes their own life: mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and, for young people, their school colleagues. Again, I have been there and spoken to the relatives and friends afterwards. You are not doing anyone any favours; in actual fact you are causing huge grief. So, seek help and seek support.

There is the recent tragedy of Robin Williams taking his life—such a talented man, such a funny man and so successful. People who did not know Robin Williams grieved openly: why did he do it? How could he do it? And there are so many examples of high-profile people here and overseas who have taken their lives. So here in Canberra, in the big place, we need to understand the significance of suicide for our country. Indeed, we are not immune. People in this place have been touched by suicide, so what can we do as members of parliament?

Sure, providing funding for mental health initiatives is greatly important. Providing capital works funding through things like hotspot programs to help minimise self-harm. But as politicians we need to do more. We need to talk about mental health in our electorates. We need to recognise when someone has a problem in our community and ask them to get help, and to seek help for them. Again, I congratulate the member for Goldstein, Andrew Robb, for what he has done to promote mental health in this place—coming out as he did so publicly and declaring he had a problem with depression and then setting about fixing it is so commendable. He is an inspiration for all of us. And now he is a minister doing amazing work with free trade agreements and in investments for Australia.

Again, as a police officer I attended so many suicides, and I must say that all those involved in emergency services also live with this in some ways for many years.

In conclusion, we should recognise the impacts that depression, anxiety and suicide have on our community. We should all promote the need for people to seek help when there are signs of problems, and we should try to minimise the social stigma is on mental health whenever they occur.

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes with concern that:

  (a) over the past five years, the average number of suicide deaths per year in Australia is 2,415;

  (b) in 2012, 1,901 males and 634 females died through suicide—an average of 6.9 deaths by suicide every day;

  (c) suicide is the leading cause of death in Australia for men under 44 and women under 34; and

  (d) Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2009 shows us that more people die from suicide than from road deaths;

(2) recognises that the Government and the community must do everything they can to prevent death by suicide; and

(3) acknowledges all Australian lives lost to suicide and the suffering felt by their friends and families.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to congratulate the member for Latrobe on bringing this really important motion to the parliament. It is a motion that is important not only in his electorate but in each and every electorate in this parliament.

Each and every member of this House would have spoken to the families of somebody whose young son or daughter has taken their lives, or spoken to friends of people who have lost somebody through suicide. I do not think it is recognised how widely suicide impacts on our community, nor the various causes of suicide.

It is very interesting when you look at some of the statistics associated with suicide. In 2012 there was an average of 6.9 deaths by suicide each and every day. That is incredible! In 2012, 1,901 males and 434 females died through suicide. Suicide is the leading cause of death of men under 44 and of women under 34.

Here we have an epidemic that is attacking young people in our society. If it were another disease we would be lobbied each and every day to invest more money, more resources and more research into the cause of suicide and demanding that governments address this important issue. But instead of that, it is swept under the carpet; it is something that people do not like to talk about. By bringing this motion to the House the member for La Trobe has said that it is not good enough, that we need to talk about this issue, that we need to be very aware of the fact that suicide is attacking the most vital resource of this country: our people.

In my electorate there have been many occasions when young people have taken their lives. There was a young man who attended one of the high schools. He was an outstanding scholar, an outstanding athlete and the most popular person in his year, and he took his own life. The school community was devastated. His parents' lives will never be the same. This happened quite a few years ago now—about five years ago. It is in one instant that a person makes that decision to take their life—they feel overwhelmed, they feel hopeless, they feel as though they are in a situation that they cannot plough their way out of—and they make that decision, particularly young people, without understanding that that decision is irreversible: once you take your life it is gone, and the impact of that decision goes on for years and years and years.

ABS stats from 2009 show that there are more deaths from suicide than deaths on the road. Each and every day we are confronted with campaigns to address road deaths. There are campaigns to reduce speeding. There are campaigns designed around not drinking and driving, not taking drugs and driving and not engaging in behaviours that are going to lead to road accidents. Occasionally there is a campaign directed towards addressing the issue of suicide. It was highlighted during Mental Health Week—and, once again, I congratulate the member for La Trobe for putting this motion before the House at a time following on from Mental Health Week—that one of the most prominent mental health issues is depression, and depression leads to suicide.

During Mental Health Week one of the programs that was highlighted was MATES in Construction. I think that is a fantastic program, one that really deserves a mention. Construction workers are more than twice as likely to suicide than other people in Australia. Construction workers are six times as likely to die by suicide than through a workplace accident. And when I say that, construction work is the most unsafe occupation in this country. So, the area that has the most occupational deaths through workplace accidents has a higher rate of suicide than of workplace accidents. That is phenomenal. That is unacceptable. Apprentices in construction are 2½ times as likely to suicide as other young men their age. Mental illness on construction sites is now accepted as an industrial safety concern. There are nearly 1,930,000 construction workers in Australia. For workers in the construction industry, suicide seems to be a part of the reality of working in that industry. And it is a highly transient industry. It is an industry in which the workers tend to have a lower level of education and a higher level of literacy problems and probably a higher level of employees undertaking risky behaviours—alcohol, drugs and a higher level of activities that can lead to suicide.

The highly transient nature of the job means that people do not form the bonds and the support you get within a workplace and employment—working on a project-by-project basis for weeks and years, constantly moving from one job to another. According to the building employee's redundancy fund, redundancy payouts for the workers in the industry are less than one year's contribution. There were 399 death payments made between 1999 and 2007. In Queensland, particularly in the commercial construction industry, suicide is prominent.

This program is particularly important because it talks about raising awareness, building capacity, engaging the industry in sustainable programs such as Life Skills Toolbox, which is really good, the MATES in Construction program, Safe TALK, ASIST and Connectors, aimed at building self-reliance, providing help with case management and connecting workers using existing services. It undertakes research, gathers data and partners with research institutions. The MATES in Construction organisation is proactive and responsive, supportive, nonjudgmental, committed and dependable, honest and respectful.

This industry has the highest rate of suicide and this organisation has decided to get in there to address the issue. This needs to happen not only in the construction industry but across the board in Australia. We need to recognise just how predominant suicide is in our community, what a loss it is to our society, how each and every day we are losing young lives and not-so-young lives because suicide is also prominent in older age groups where people feel hopeless and helpless and they do not know how to change their situation.

I conclude by paying tribute to all those organisations which get in there and work with people—beyondblue, the Black Dog Institute and particularly headspace. Like the member for La Trobe, I would love to see a headspace in Lake Macquarie.

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great sadness that I speak to this motion acknowledging that over the past five years the average number of suicide deaths per year in Australia is 2,415. It is astonishing that in a prosperous country such as Australia suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 44 and for women under 34. Almost twice as many people die from suicide in Australia than from road-related transport accidents. Alarmingly, two in three Australian's know of someone who has died through suicide. Sadly we are losing too many young people to suicide and too many lives are tragically cut short in their prime. Unfortunately, on the Central Coast, we have experienced one of the highest rates of youth suicide in Australia.

In Australia, there are seven deaths a day by suicide. For every suicide, it is estimated that as many as 30 people attempt to take their own life. This is around 200 attempts per day, more than one every 10 minutes. The sad reality of suicide is that there are people in our community feeling so desperate and alone and, without knowing where to turn for help, the only solution is to take their own life. Not only are bright lights extinguished before their time but families are left broken and communities are left trying to comprehend not only why this occurs but why it occurs so often.

This motion calls for the government and community to do everything they can to prevent death by suicide. We live in a world which expects so much and where the struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance is increasingly difficult. It is more important than ever that we reach out and support those battling depression and other serious mental health conditions, to tell them that we do care and support them, and to tell them that there is help available and a brighter future ahead.

In my role as a federal member of parliament I have been shocked by the prevalence of mental health issues among our youth. As a parent, the thought of mental illness crippling a child is devastating. Our school yards should be filled with hope and optimism, cheerful laughter and potential for life. Sadly, this is not always the case, with an increasing number of students being haunted by the dark clouds of depression and anxiety. As adults, as policy makers and as leaders in our community we must be conscious of the demands and pressures placed upon young Australians    and ensure that we are there to lend a helping hand.

While the shock of the degree and depth of mental illness in our community is hard to reconcile, I am also enlightened by the many people and organisations dedicated to helping in this field. As the member for Dobell, I have been privileged to work with many valuable local organisations that help those in need. I have previously shared with the House the opportunities I have been afforded to spend time with organisations, to promote their efforts in the fight against mental illness—organisations such as the Central Coast Suicide Safety Network, the Iris Foundation and the Health and Wellness Centre are constantly working for the Central Coast community. Together they are focused on providing a coordinated response to assessing, responding and referring people at risk of suiciding to the appropriate level of care. The success of these organisations is owed to the experienced mental health workers, volunteers and community leaders who are dedicated to helping others in need.

I was honoured earlier this year to attend the opening of the Iris Foundation's Early Intervention Centre for Suicide Prevention at Wyong Neighbourhood Centre. This was a particularly significant occasion as this new centre is the first of its kind in New South Wales. This centre assists people to obtain the support they require and provides integration into other mental health support services. I acknowledge the hard work, commitment and dedication of two outstanding women—Dawn Hooper and Bev Baldwin. Without their work, this centre would not be a reality.

Fortunately the stigma surrounding mental health is fading. National initiatives including suicide awareness day and R U OK? Day are succeeding in raising awareness and encourage showing interest in the health and wellbeing of our friends, colleagues and family members. There is a broader range of resources available for the families of those affected by mental illness. Technology now means that help is available in our homes and workplaces.

Another launch I recently had the good fortune to attend was the SANE online forum, a new peer-to-peer support service and partnership with mental health organisations around Australia, providing support for people living with mental illness, their families and carers. I commend the work of everyone involved in raising awareness and offering support to those with mental health issues. I look forward to working with them to enable those affected a brighter future, free from struggles. I join with all members of this parliament to acknowledge the lives lost to suicide and the suffering felt by their friends and families.

To our loved ones, friends and colleagues we have lost through suicide, we will always love you and never forget you. I commend this motion to the House.

Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, I rise to speak to and commend the member for La Trobe's private member's motion that deals with our joint concern about the average number of suicide deaths per year in Australia. We have heard the figure of 2,415.

This is an incredibly disturbing figure. We know that medical experts agree that each of those 2,415 deaths is avoidable and that suicide is the leading cause of deaths in Australia for men under 44 and women under 34. It is imperative that all levels of government, whether local, state, territory or federal, do more to properly support and fund mental health into the future.

As the member for La Trobe knows, we have been hit particularly hard by the devastating impacts of suicide in our area. Our community has dealt with this devastation with courage, resolve and determination; and through wonderful initiatives like the Coming Together to Prevent Youth Suicide Facebook page started by students affected by suicide and their loss to participation in a groundbreaking forum that I hosted with Pat McGorry in 2012 that was covered by Four Corners called There is No 3G in Heaven.

We know that suicide is an important subject but here are some other facts. We know that after the game-changing Burdekin report in 1993 that mental health treatment devolved from being solely treated at an institution to being treated in the community; but we also know that mental health service providers have never been appropriately funded by any government to provide that service to the community. As a consequence, some of our best and brightest mental health service providers leave the public system and access to treatment becomes much harder.

We know that in Australia governments collectively spend approximately seven per cent of their health budget on mental health and that other comparable First World countries spend up to 14 per cent. In essence, we are spending something like a Third World country on mental health services for our people in this country, and that is completely disgraceful.

We also know that only one in five people suffering from a mental illness seeks treatment. We know that we continue to underfund mental health research in this country even though we have some of the best mental health researchers in the world. We know that the stigma around mental health illness continues. Has it abated in the 20 years since Burdekin produced this groundbreaking report? Yes, it has. Is there more to be done to ameliorate the stigma? Of course there is. Are people still dying, because of the stigma associated with mental illness? Yes, they are. Should we accept that? No, we should not.

This is why I am a strong supporter of Patrick McGorry's new Australians for Mental Health campaign. In fact I had the honour of launching this campaign along with Professor McGorry on 23 August 2014 at Village Cinemas at Westfield Fountain Gate. This event was attended by nearly 200 people, some of whom had been personally affected by the loss of a loved one due to suicide.

Australians for Mental Health aims to reduce the stigma and calls for an increase in mental health funding. It calls for improved access to mental health care and for a reduction in the suicide toll by 25 per cent of its current rate—which is 2,361 deaths per annum by 2016—and by 50 per cent of its current rate by 2020.

The millions of dollars spent on new road safety programs like wearing seat belts that were introduced in 1973 have reduced the national road toll, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, from 3,798 deaths in 1970 to 1,193 deaths in 2013. If a similar national campaign was embarked upon by governments, federal, state and local, we could reduce the national suicide rate in the coming years.

At a local level, the City of Casey has made some important progress in reducing the stigma associated with mental illness and suicide, particularly youth suicide, and by providing new mental health services. The member for La Trobe mentioned the headspace at Dandenong and the new headspace at Fountain Gate, which is in the member for La Trobe's electorate but will be accessed by people from my constituency. These are two very important services, but there will also be an early psychosis intervention centre rolled over the top of the Dandenong service and the Fountain Gate service.

I commend the member for La Trobe for his words. This is a campaign where, if governments do not take action, literally lives will be lost. I commend the motion.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, it saddens me deeply to rise to speak on this motion about a subject that has touched far too many in our great Australian family. Suicide is a terrible tragedy not just for those left behind but for those who are the victims. How alone, how abandoned and how desperate those people must have been before ending their lives. And indeed how long did they feel like this?

It troubles me greatly that in a country as full of opportunity as ours that these people feel so isolated that they see suicide as the only available path. This troubles me even more when it comes to the brave men and women of the Australian Defence Force. The Gallipoli Barracks are located within my electorate of Ryan, and I have been to services for our returned fallen heroes where they are treated with all the respect and honour they deserve.

Unfortunately, suicide is far too prevalent within our recently returned servicemen. Since 2000, 96 serving ADF personnel and 13 former ADF personnel that we know of have taken their own lives. This is despite Defence instituting a number of programs to address suicide and broader mental illness issues within the Defence Force. While the rate of suicide in the ADF is no greater than the rate in the general populace, it troubles me that people with easy access to quality care and counselling still choose to end their lives rather than seek help.

We must do more to end the stigma surrounding not only suicide but also, more importantly, seeking help for what, in most cases, are treatable illnesses. I also think it is time we stopped saying that a person died from suicide. While that may have been the act that ended their life, that act is a symptom of a problem. As friends of Robin Williams said following his death he did not die from suicide but from depression. Issues around mental illness are extremely complex. For example, a psychiatrist I know once told me that a person with bipolar who jumps off a building is not trying to suicide but are trying to fly. The result however is usually what we call suicide.

We must also address the underlying issues in our national psyche to stop people, mostly young men, taking their lives. I know it sounds cliche but all the best research has found that talking to someone genuinely helps. It is best if that person is a professional but a sympathetic and understanding friend can do as well. There is no shame in asking for help. If you want to move a big item of furniture, you ask for help. If you need assistance cleaning up after a flood or disaster, you ask for help. But when it comes to their health, both mental and physical, many men simply do not ask for help. It takes more strength to ask for help than to not ask. And if a mate comes to you and wants you to listen, be proud that they thought enough of you to confide in you.

As a nation we have a suicide problem. Talking about it here and acknowledging the issue is a good start, but we must do more. As this motion says, more people die from suicide each year than in road accidents. Yet how many millions of dollars do our state governments spend on education programs on driver safety and road signage and improvement? How many millions of dollars do they make through enforcing speed limits to the slimmest of margins? How can they ignore the elephant in the room? I have been told informally by police officers that they consider at least a third of all single vehicle accidents to be suicide. If you removed those numbers from the road toll and added them to the figures for suicide then the road toll, while still worrying, will not be as big an issue as suicide. So I say to the state governments of Australia, 'Take a third of the money you spend on advertising road and driver safety and start educating people about mental illness—or, better still, spend that money on actually treating mental illness.'

This is an issue that concerns and involves all Australians. We must have a national dialogue on how we address the leading cause of death among men under 44 and women under 34. I commend the motion to the House and I thank the member for LaTrobe for drawing attention to this important issue.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Suicide is the leading cause of death in Australia for men under 44 and for women under 34. More people die from suicide than from road accidents. Over the past five years the average number of suicide deaths per year in Australia was 2,415. These statistics are sobering and they are heartbreaking. Every year 400,000 Australians experience suicidal thoughts. Sixty-five thousand make suicide attempts. Thirty-five thousand are admitted to hospital for injuries incurred in the course of attempts to commit suicide. In 2012, 1,901 men and 634 women died through suicide. Some estimates put the costs of suicide to the economy at $17½ billion or one per cent of GDP per year.

But, of course, the financial cost of suicide is not the most important consideration. The most important consideration is that, behind each of these statistics, is a human story of grief, pain and suffering. As a college student, I will never forget learning of one of the young women of my college committing suicide. At that time, she was surrounded by people her own age, her peers, going through the college at the same time as her, and yet she was not able to be a survivor of suicide. As recently as last week I heard a story from a survivor of suicide, at the annual MATES in Construction charity lunch.

MATES in Construction is an organisation that assists with mental health issues in the construction industry. At that MATES in Construction annual lunch, Justin, from Jelly Belly Plumbing, told us that he was a survivor of suicide. The MATES in Construction lunch is aimed at encouraging participants in the building and construction industry to reach out to people in that industry and provide help when it comes to mental health. Of the people who died from suicide in 2012, 172 were construction workers. That is more than five times the number of construction workers who died in workplace accidents that year—which is not to diminish the fact that any death in the workplace is one death too many; it is concerning that so many people from the construction industry that are taking their own life.

MATES in Construction is an organisation that is saving lives in the construction industry. It is an organisation that works to arrest and decline suicide rates in the construction industry. The construction industry is such a transient industry and lots of workers are employed from project to project for periods of as short as a few weeks at a time. A recent report by Professor Chris Doran, of the Hunter Medical Research Institute, found that, since the MATES in Construction program started in 2008 in Queensland—which is where the program originated, though it is reaching out across the nation now—the risk of suicide in Queensland's construction industry has decreased by almost 10 per cent. So, as I say, they are saving lives.

I was really honoured to go to the charity lunch last week to represent Senator McLucas, and I was struck when I heard the stories from the supporters, the people around the table and those who spoke about just how effective the model has been. This is a model that is shared across industry. It is industry participants working in partnership to make a real difference to the lives of building and construction workers. For example, the lunch itself was promoted and sponsored by Hutchinson—a great Queensland company in the building and construction industry. MATES in Construction is supported by employer organisations. I am reliably informed by the chair of the organisation that the QMBA worked very hard at the outset of the organisation to take internal steps to be able to become strong supporters and promoters of MATES in Construction, and I congratulate the Queensland Master Buildings Association for doing that. Other organisations that support MATES in Construction include Construction Skills Queensland, another industry based partnership model that is showing great and successful outcomes in Queensland, like other organisations such as the Services Industry College and the others that were present at the lunch.

What was really heartening was to see the way that unions and employers are working together to arrest and decline suicide in the industry. In fact, on my table I had representatives from great large companies like John Holland and Lend Lease, who are very strong supporters of MATES in Construction as well. It is unfortunate that the Commonwealth funding for this organisation will run out shortly. It is an organisation that costs around $800,000 a year to run, yet their work in preventing suicide returns a saving of about $3.6 million each year. I would encourage those on the government side of this House to work on ensuring that funding is continued for MATES in Construction into the future. (Time expired)

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to a great man—a community leader who by anyone's measure was an inspiration and a role model. He was a friend of mine. His name is Gavin Jones. He took his own life in July at his farm at Goulburn, just near mine, at the age of 47. Gavin was perhaps best known as the founder of the Deadly Vibe Group which published Deadly Vibe magazine and produced the Deadly Awards. The Deadlys started in Sydney two decades ago, celebrating achievement and excellence in the Indigenous community. I attended last year's event with Gavin. Great social entrepreneurs leave a legacy, and Gavin's legacy will loom large. He was able to lead and inspire others as few can. His simple, motivating idea—that we should celebrate Indigenous success—will live on well beyond his life. Gavin's name is added to the list of many others Australia has lost to suicide this year. While we can never understand what motivates someone to take their own life, it is always a tragedy. As this motion before the House asserts, over the past five years alone average suicide deaths a year in Australia have exceeded 2,400—an absolutely shocking number.

In the Goulburn area, in my electorate of Hume, suicide rates are disturbingly high, particularly amongst young people. Preventing further suicides is a goal motivating many local families, a number who have already lost loved ones to suicide. In 2003 a Goulburn suicide working group was formed to look at positive ways to address the issues and to target risk-taking behaviours. The group identified a range of ways to reduce the risks of further suicides: greater community education across the community—of course, suicide should not be a taboo subject; greater networking and information sharing between preventative agencies; and more readily available public information on suicide prevention as well as information to support families who are grieving. Research has shown that suicide and self-harm behaviour cuts across gender, race and socio-economic background. The Goulburn suicide working group identified that any genuine response needed a whole-of-community approach, collaborative work practices and government funding support.

Against this backdrop and after years of community campaigning, I was very proud to welcome the announcement last week of federal funding for a Headspace centre for Goulburn. Health Minister Peter Dutton announced that 15 new headspace centres will be established across Australia, including one at Goulburn, to provide mental-health services for young people aged 12 to 25. This will bring the total number of headspace centres in Australia to 100. Eleven of the new centres will be in regional Australia, recognising the special issues faced by rural and regional communities when it comes to youth depression and isolation. I feel great pride that we will be able to offer this for young people in Hume. It is not just for Goulburn—it is for the broader district. We held a celebratory morning tea at my office in Goulburn last Wednesday with tributes to the tireless efforts of many people who have campaigned for a headspace centre, including the late, great Trish Cunningham; Mayor Geoff Kettle; Simon Bennett from Anglicare and Jo Cunningham. Jo lost her own son, Hugo, to suicide in 2012. In hearing the headspace news, she said: 'You always have to find the positive out of something very, very negative, and that's what the community has done.' Thank you, Jo, for showing such courage and strength in seeing this through.

We still need the local community to keep pulling together to ensure the headspace centre is everything we want and expect. It will take the best part of two years for it to be up and running, but knowing it is coming is a great motivator. The headspace centre is a great outcome for Goulburn, but there is still a lot of work we can do in terms of broader community education. Three-quarters of all mental illness manifests itself in people under 25. The links between mental illness, depression and suicide are well known and well documented so, as a caring community, we have a duty to continue finding new and better ways to raise awareness about the risks of suicide. After the tragic event of someone taking their life it can sometimes be said, oftentimes in fact, that there were no signs anything was wrong—that there was nothing anyone could have done. As a caring community we need to look harder and we need to act sooner. I commend this motion to the House.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the motion by the member for La Trobe, and I thank the member for bringing this important matter to the attention of the House. It has also been a privilege to listen to earlier contributions—in particular, that of the member for Hume, both at a personal level and in terms of his reflections on this issue as it affects his community.

The tragically high number of suicides that the member for La Trobe has drawn the House's attention to gives us all pause for thought. I am sure we have all been touched by suicide and we have all struggled with questions of understanding and questions of responsibility at a personal level. The death of a friend or a family member leaves an empty space in lives, and a death which is sudden and perhaps avoidable leaves behind trauma and a sense of loss that stays with loved ones. All of us should strive to reach out to those in need, and this need can take many forms. However, we are here because we are recognising today that there is only so much individuals can do by themselves—there needs to be institutional support and indeed institutional understanding that supplements community and individual efforts. As the member for Holt said earlier—we have not done enough in this regard, and this has been a bipartisan failing.

I am hopeful that there is now a bipartisan response, and I acknowledge the Howard government's watershed mental health spending in its 2006 budget, the largest allocation of spending on mental health for its time—not before time. Part of this commitment was the establishment of Headspace facilities across Australia, and other members have acknowledged the role that these facilities are playing in their communities. Each Headspace centre employs a team of youth workers and mental health professionals. Headspace has already provided services to around 80,000 young people across centres in metropolitan, regional and remote areas. I am proud to say that Headspace has strong support from Labor. The former Labor government, in its 2011-12 budget, announced that the number of Headspace centres would be expanded by 30, and in the lead-up to the last election Labor committed $34 million to open another 10 Headspace centres, so that there would be 100 across the country.

According to Headspace, each year around one in seven teenagers and more than a quarter of 18 to 25 year olds will experience mental health problems and/or problems with alcohol and other drugs. We also know—and the motion, importantly, recognises—that suicide is the leading cause of death amongst this group. Seventy-five per cent of mental health problems emerge before the age of 25, so early intervention in this area, as in so many areas of social policy, is critical. In outer suburban communities, including areas within the Scullin electorate, these issues are often exacerbated by limited access to mental health services, stigma, prohibitive costs and limited availability of transport as well as limited access to meaningful employment and, in many cases, education.

According to the City of Whittlesea, 22,000 young people aged 15 to 24 live in this local government area, and potentially 5,600 of these people are experiencing mental health problems. So I was very pleased with last week's announcement of a new Headspace facility in Greensborough which will cater for young people in Melbourne's north-east. This has come after lobbying since the first inception of Headspace by local governments, groups and agencies as well as my predecessor, Harry Jenkins. The City of Whittlesea and the Shire of Nillumbik deserve special mention for their combined and innovative efforts on behalf of their constituencies as part of the North East Headspace Partnership group. The full aspect of their advocacy included an adjoining facility in South Morang, which was, unfortunately, omitted from the plans for the new Greensborough facility. This is a missed opportunity for an area that would benefit greatly from such a facility, an area of real need. I will continue to work with the community to lobby Headspace and the Australian government for a Headspace satellite facility to be located in South Morang, servicing those areas of the City of Whittlesea most in need. In the meantime, I look forward to working with my parliamentary colleagues, including the Minister for Health, in the spirit of bipartisanship, to make this a reality and, for all of us, doing more to end the tragic waste of young lives that this motion squarely addresses. It is all of our responsibility.

Debate adjourned.