Page 1474 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 2012
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We must be realistic about the issue. Although it might make us more comfortable to not have to discuss suicide and its painful effects, accurate reporting will facilitate those who need help to receive it. There is no doubt the resources in the health arena are scarce, but when people can see where the resources are being spent and where there is improvement they are more likely to support additional resources being given.
We must treat suicide like other issues in our community. We must understand the extent of the problem, understand the causes, and take appropriate measures to address it. Hiding the problem away will not address the issue. Reporting of statistics does not just assist the government in addressing the issue; it also assists community groups. I have spoken with many local community groups involved in suicide prevention. For them, information is a very powerful tool. They need accurate data so that they can focus their limited resources in the best way. I do place the caveat that merely reporting the number of deaths caused by suicide does not represent the whole picture of the problem. For instance, the number of people suffering a major depressive episode also highlights the seriousness of this problem in the community.
This motion also calls for an aspirational reduction target to be set for 2020. I understand that there are concerns in the community about doing so, and I acknowledge the comments that the minister has made. Setting a target is a blunt instrument in itself. However, as a means of ensuring that reporting and data collection are improved, it has the potential to be a powerful tool. By setting an aspirational target, we are not saying that there is an okay number, that there are a certain number of deaths by suicide that we can allow to happen in the community. There is no such number. One suicide is one suicide too many.
By calling for a target, we are not reducing a person to a number. We are in fact highlighting that their death was one too many, just like we do with the road toll. The number of motor vehicle deaths does not take away from the loss of those individuals but in fact establishes a platform from which the community begins to understand the loss.
Setting a target is not a new concept. The Senate committee report, which I detailed earlier, recommended that the commonwealth government work with state and territory governments to establish targets. The commonwealth government’s response to the recommendation was that they agreed in principle. However, it does not come as a surprise to me that the federal Labor government have failed to act in this important area.
As far back as 1998, a UK green paper titled “Our Healthier Nation” called for a target and in fact set a target to reduce the number of suicides by one-sixth by 2010. The US Department of Health and Human Services in 2007 set a target for 2020. Their target was to reduce the rate of deaths due to suicide to 10.2 per 100,000 people. They also went as far as to set a separate youth rate.
Suicide is an issue that we need to highlight in the community, and today’s motion provides some means of doing so. I foreshadow the Canberra Liberals will be supporting this motion. We will also be supporting the Greens’ amendment, and I
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