ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: I’d also like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians on the land on which we meet, and to pay my respect to elders past and present. And thank you to Uncle Warren for your generous welcome and salient reminder. To those with a lived and living experience of suicide, and your words of empathy, understanding and action. To Emily and Graham, and everyone here today with a lived and living experience, thank you for your generosity in building faith and hope for change.
I’d like to acknowledge the Prime Minister who has just spoken, for his important reminder that we must continue to unite on our work as a country to prevent suicide. To the Opposition Leader, to the co-chairs Susan and Julian, to Assistant Minister Ged Kearney, to the many colleagues and friends who are here, the shadow minister, as well as Michael and Nieves for your leadership in this work.
As has been said today, like every day, we lose nine Australians to suicide, each a profound loss to the people who love them, to their family, to their friends, to our communities. And as we reflect on the loss of so many, our resolve strengthens because it does not have to be this way. Suicide and suicidal distress can be prevented. Suicide is complex with many contributing factors. It’s more complex than mental health alone, which is why we need a broader response beyond health. Addressing the drivers of distress such as traumatic life events, financial distress or relationship breakdown.
It’s also importance to recognise that while suicide impacts the whole population, it does not impact everyone equally, which is why we are taking a broader approach through measures to address the cost of living, by supporting those experiencing gendered violence, improving access to healthcare, and tackling housing insecurity and homelessness, and the many measures that the Prime Minister has just outlined in his remarks. Across government and across communities, we are coming together to make meaningful change.
But this work alone is not enough. We’ve also been working to reform the mental health and suicide prevention systems to provide better early intervention, to provide help when and where it is needed, which is why we’re delivering a new national early intervention service to provide free help at the earliest possible stage of distress. And establishing Medicare mental health centres, building on the Head to Health model across the country to provide a safe and welcoming place to receive care and support, including immediate support for people in distress. Both will be part of a stepped model of care alongside other support, so services better match the needs of each person in their community. And we know that through reducing the drivers of distress and boosting protective factors and providing the right type of care and support we together can make meaningful change.
These reforms have only been possible with the support of people with lived and living experience of mental ill health and suicide, and learning from people and their direct experience has been the cornerstone of this journey to reform. All actions are now underpinned by the expertise that only lived experience can tell us, and I am so personally grateful for the advice and contribution that so many here today have so generously given to undertake this work.
Today, as we mark World Suicide Prevention Day with 60 countries across the globe, we reach another milestone in this journey, a milestone that I know many people here and across the sector have worked towards for many years – the release of the draft National Suicide Prevention Strategy by the National Suicide Prevention Office. This is about guiding a national approach, reframing suicide prevention, bringing us all together to save lives, to prevent distress wherever possible, to avoid the overwhelming suffering which can lead to suicide and which flows from it.
I want to thank the National Suicide Prevention Office and Doctor Michael Gardner, and everyone who has contributed so much to this work, and I hope that everyone here and those with lived and living experience can help shape the final national suicide prevention strategy through the consultation phase, so that we can continue to move towards a future without the devastating loss of so many Australians to suicide. Thank you.
