Page 1320 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019

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officer in the ACT—one—who thinks the staffing numbers are adequate. Find me one, because I guarantee you there is not one.

Question put:

That the amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Amendment agreed to.

Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.

Adjournment

Motion (by Mr Gentleman) proposed:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Menslink

MRS KIKKERT (Ginninderra) (4.33): Young men are strongly represented in a number of worrying community statistics. For example, school dropout rates for boys are nearly double those of girls. Nationally, young men are over-represented in the juvenile justice system by a ratio of nine to one. In the latest year for which we have ABS statistics, fully three-quarters of those who died from intentional self-harm were men. Suicide is the leading cause of death of young men, a dark shadow that follows them well into adulthood, remaining number one in every male cohort from age 15 up to age 44.

Menslink got their start in Canberra as a young men’s support network, under the umbrella of the Woden Community Centre. In 2002 they became an independent organisation dedicated to meeting the increasing needs of young men and their families in our community. They do this by running education sessions at schools and in other community settings to teach young men that it is okay to speak up and get help; by providing short-term counselling to help boys get through stressful events in life; and by providing longer term mentoring support from positive male role models. The latter can be especially important for the 17 per cent of young men who have no father in the home.

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