Page 2257 - Week 06 - Thursday, 6 June 2019
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The committee, which was established in 2012, has a number of functions, including maintaining a register of deaths of children and young people in the ACT, identifying patterns and trends in relation to the deaths of children and young people and determining research that would be valuable in this area. As members would be aware, the committee is able to make recommendations about legislation, policies, practices and services for implementation by government and non-government bodies, with the aim of preventing avoidable deaths, reducing the number of deaths of children and young people in the ACT and improving services.
The annual report tabled today provides an analysis of data on the deaths of ACT children and young people occurring in 2018 and over a five-year period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2018. The report comprises a number of specific cohorts, including all children and young people who died in the ACT in the 12-month period of the report or who normally resided in the ACT but died outside the ACT during this period, ACT residents only over the five-year period and two chapters on specific populations: neonates and infants, and vulnerable young people.
Tragically, children under one year of age comprise the largest number of deaths across age groups, accounting for 68 per cent of all deaths of children and young people for the five-year period. The leading causes of death for infants are medically related and include certain conditions originating in the perinatal period and chromosomal or congenital anomalies.
Suicide is the leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 17 years. Deaths by suicide remain a concern for the committee, with intentional self-harm resulting in, on average, two deaths a year in the ACT. The committee chair, Ms Margaret Carmody PSM, notes in her foreword to the report that the committee will be conducting a more in-depth review of children and young people who died as a result of intentional self-harm. This is an important piece of work which I have discussed directly with the committee chair and deputy chair.
This year the committee has also included a chapter on the progress of recommendations made by the committee since its establishment. The recommendations made by the committee have an important role to play in helping improve service systems and service delivery through what is learnt from the tragic events associated with the death of a child or young person. The committee notes that they will continue to monitor changes to policy and practice which aim to achieve better outcomes for children and young people.
The death of any child or young person is devastating and I take this opportunity again to extend my condolences and, I am sure, the condolences of this Assembly to all families and friends affected by the death of a child or young person. I commend the ACT Children and Young People Death Review Committee annual report 2018 to the Assembly and thank the committee for its work over the last year.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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