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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (18 February) . . Page.. 343 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

many in the community want to see the development of a social plan. It is too easy for politicians to leap on to a particular response, particularly at the crisis end of the spectrum, because of community or political pressure.

There is also the danger, of course, that preparation of glossy strategic plans will be all that happens and governments will use them to look as if they are doing something, whereas the community is still left struggling with the problems. I am not necessarily saying that that is the case now, but I am saying that it has been done in the past. In fact, one young person I spoke to about the suicide strategy - and this young person works in the youth sector - responded to my concern that there needed to be a much greater focus on the provision of services by saying, "That is a rather quaint notion". It is a rather worrying cynicism coming from someone working in the area that it is a quaint notion to expect services.

There is another aspect to the discussion about youth suicide or suicide generally that needs to be addressed, that is, whether there is a general crisis of morale in young people and, if so, why. On the one hand, I understand if that seems just too hard to deal with; but, on the other, it is a central question and we have to look at it as a society. Over the last 10 years we have not seen an improvement in young people's involvement in crime, drug abuse, suicide and poverty. We have a growing understanding of the psychological problems experienced by young people and evidence suggests that the social status of young people is not necessarily relevant to this distress.

The suicide rate is really only the tip of the iceberg. Recent studies show one-fifth to one-third of young people today experience significant psychological distress or disturbance. The reasons are not clear, but there is general agreement that some factors are definitely significant. They include absence of a close and trusting relationship with a caring, dependable adult; parental conflict or abuse; changes in adolescent transitions, including the targeting and scapegoating of young people by the community; media influence; increased tensions between dependence and autonomy; more romantic relationship breakdowns; increased inequality; disadvantage; and increased unemployment, creating the perception of a lack of opportunities in mainstream society.

I think it is important to mention again the need to invest in prevention and early intervention. The Federal Government announced recently a new womb-to-classroom strategy built on the principles of early intervention. The new strategy focuses on juvenile offenders, but the issues are obviously closely related to concerns around suicide. Interventions suggested include preschool for disadvantaged children, home visits to provide support for young mothers, and parent education to teach skills for handling difficult children. Social networks need to be strengthened by government policies. Even coffee mornings and play groups can make a difference. Assisting local communities to deal with economic stress is another important response that has been suggested. Poverty and inequality have increased in Australia and are related to increases in crime and antisocial behaviour, unhappy families and social fragmentation.

Cultural shifts, individualism and the lack of a cultural framework which has values also have been identified as contributing factors to alienation and distress in young people. Notions of the spiritual, of the collective good, of caring and hope, and of a sense of belonging are missing in many young people's experience. These qualities are identified

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