SUICIDE PREVENTION

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (15:42): Today, I rise to speak further about a passion of mine, that is, suicide prevention. It is very important, I think, to continue the discussion throughout the community, and it is evident as I move around South Australia that more and more people are prepared to discuss this issue, particularly in relation to intervention and dealing with families who have been bereaved by suicide.

My work in this area was strengthened late last year when I was privileged to attend a Suicide Prevention Policy and Practice Forum in Sydney. There was a range of people there from around the country who spoke about the work they do in the area of suicide prevention and, more broadly, on mental health issues.

I was particularly impressed by an address from the editor of The Border Mail at Albury—a community which has been particularly impacted by suicide—and the way in which that newspaper did not have a knee-jerk reaction to its coverage of suicide but thought about the way in which it could best campaign in the community, and it did that by mounting a campaign to the federal government for a Headspace centre in Albury-Wodonga. It was certainly a very impressive campaign, and I appreciated that address.

Ms Coralanne Walker, the director of the CORES program from Tasmania—which I have spoken about many times and which has had a great impact in South Australia—spoke about the program and its work from Tasmania to North Queensland and many places in between. I was also very pleased that Mr Andrew Montesi from Adelaide spoke about the Talklife program, which is something that has been developed in a voluntary capacity by South Australians but has been taken up by many young people across the world and, I am told, particularly by young women, as a manner in which they can converse certainly about their mental health issues and just continue a conversation they may not otherwise have had.

Equally, I was pleased that Jonathan Nicholas from the Inspire Foundation spoke to the conference about ReachOut.com. Here again, ReachOut.com is an entity that works very well on limited resources in helping assisting young people in the community in their coming together and discussing with other people their mental health issues and, in many cases, suicidal thoughts.

As I said earlier, I have moved around the state very much in relation to suicide prevention, and I have had contacts in many country areas in recent times, including Strathalbyn, Port Augusta, Murray Bridge and a range of others throughout the Mid North, and there are many people in South Australia concerned about the mental health and suicide risk.

Last week, I was very pleased to assist in hosting a suicide prevention forum in Gawler. The co-host of that event was Mr Cosie Costa, who is the Liberal candidate for Light. Cosie spoke with great passion and sincerity about the impact of suicide in sporting bodies that he has been involved with. It was a very well attended forum. I was pleased that Ms Jill Chapman, who is the founder and chair of Minimisation of Suicide Harm Australia (MOSH) was able to be with us and be a guest speaker. Importantly, that forum did continue the discussion. We had lots of input from the audience. I look forward to running more of those forums throughout the state this year.