Men's Health

In reply to the Hon. S.L. GAME ().29 August 2024).

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State): The Minister for Health and Wellbeing has advised:

Considering the interests, health and wellbeing of all South Australians, including males is the responsibility of all government authorities.

Within the male cohort there are additional intersections that impact the experiences, health and wellbeing outcomes and needs of South Australian men, including living with disability, age over the life course, Indigenous identity, gender identity and sex, cultural identity, employment status and occupation type, mental and physical health status, region of usual residence and sociodemographic details.

For this reason, it is expected that during the development of policies related to population health, consideration will be given to identifying population groups who may be most affected by the issue to be addressed and this includes examining the evidence of need via publications such as the National Men's Strategy.

The development of laws, policies and plans relating to suicide prevention in South Australia provides a good example of this approach.

The South Australian Suicide Prevention Act (2021) provides for the identification of priority population groups which it describes as groups of people disproportionally affected by suicide or attempted suicide. A key object of the act is the implementation of suitable initiatives to prevent suicide within such groups.

The act requires that all state authorities give effect to the State Suicide Prevention Plan and further that prescribed state authorities must consult with persons who identify as being within a priority population group in developing suicide prevention action plans in working to prevent suicide in the community and their own workforce.

Under the act, the State Suicide Prevention Plan must include provisions specifically addressing the prevention of suicide among priority population groups.

The State Suicide Prevention Plan 2023-26 identifies males as a priority population and acknowledges that this group is most represented in the statistics regarding suicide. As a result, males are a group given priority consideration when developing policies, strategies and actions under the State Suicide Prevention Plan and for prescribed state authorities currently developing their respective suicide prevention action plans.

This policy of supporting men as a priority population can be observed as flowing on to provide real benefits to men in the community; every year the South Australian Suicide Prevention Community Grants provide local community groups with funds to take action against suicide. Priority is given to applications that identify activities to prevent male suicide across all age, identity and sociodemographic domains in the allocation of suicide prevention grants.