Page 1466 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 2012
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harder and much less likely that people will ask for help. We are also, I believe, failing to recognise and respond to what is the leading cause of death amongst young people. The motion I am moving today seeks to have the ACT Legislative Assembly recognise the depth of this problem and assist in addressing the stigma and silence around suicide.
The first paragraph in my motion asks the Assembly to recognise that suicide is the leading cause of death in Australia for men under the age of 44 and women under the age of 34, a fact often reported by organisations such as Lifeline. The Salvation Army submission to the Senate committee inquiry outlined the results of a Roy Morgan survey commissioned to examine the level of community awareness about suicide and to gauge knowledge levels in the community regarding how to help a person who may be contemplating suicide.
While 80 per cent of the survey respondents were not aware of the level of suicide in Australia, over 64 per cent stated they had known someone who had died by suicide. Around 24 per cent did not know any service or organisations in the community that provide support for people who are suicidal. The Salvation Army went on to comment:
The results of the survey confirm our belief that there is still a sense of ignorance about the full extent of suicide in Australia. We know that more people die by suicide in a single year than through road trauma and yet the awareness levels of the issues surrounding these two social issues in Australia is vastly different. We are constantly reminded through public awareness campaigns about the extent of the road toll and how we can remain safe on our roads and yet the issue of suicide remains shrouded in mystery and seems to be seen as an individual issue and not fully recognised as the public health issue that it is.
According to the 2010 causes of death report released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, while suicide only accounts for 1.6 per cent of all deaths in Australia it is the highest recorded cause of death for all people aged between 15 and 45 and is the cause of 24 per cent of deaths of males aged between 15 and 24. Looking at the statistics for the ACT specifically, the ABS states 35 people died as a result of intention to self-harm, and all were under the age of 55. Three were boys aged 15 to 24; five men and five women aged 25 to 34; 13 men aged 35 to 44; and eight men and one woman aged 45 to 54.
The second paragraph of my motion asks the Assembly to recognise that the number of suicides and attempted suicides that occur are underreported, and the figures are likely to be higher. Some cases involve coronial processes and are not included in time for government reporting. There are also cases where people do not want a death to be recorded or reported as a suicide, to save the family or the deceased from “social embarrassment”.
According to the Senate report, the underreporting of suicide deaths is seen as masking the extent of the problem and harming efforts to assess the effectiveness of suicide prevention programs and activities. Professor Ian Hickie, in his submission to the committee inquiry, described the lack of accurate suicide figures as a national catastrophe.
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