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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-29 Daily Xml
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SUICIDE PREVENTION

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:51): I move:

That this house—

(a) acknowledges the pain and suffering resulting from suicide; and

(b) encourages government and non-government agencies to continue to help reduce and hopefully eliminate this all too frequent tragic occurrence in our society.

The traditional approach has been not to raise the issue of suicide, to keep silent about it. In recent times, the approach to this tragic occurrence has changed, and I will come back to that in a moment by referring to the report of the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist entitled South Australian Suicide Prevention Strategy 2012-2016 where that very issue is touched on.

First, putting this issue in a context, I am sure everyone in here knows of a situation where tragically a suicide has occurred. I will not be precise about the detail, but in the shopping centre where my electorate office is there is a worker who not long ago lost his grandson in a swimming pool drowning. Understandably, that had a major impact on the father and the mother of that little boy to the extent that the father could not cope, relationship issues arose from that tragedy, and then the father took his life. What do you say to someone in that situation, the worker who works in the shopping centre where my office is, who lost his grandson and then suffers the flow-on effect of his son taking his life because it overwhelmed him?

Years ago when I was lecturing at the university, someone's son leapt from a building in the city and I still remember observing the pain and suffering of the father who was one of my colleagues. Someone in the street where I live (in the connecting street; I will not be too precise), who was a highly qualified scientist, diagnosed too late with prostate cancer, ended his life by driving up to the freeway and then heading straight into a truck coming along the freeway. These are all tragic situations and they have lasting consequences, obviously, for family and friends.

Statistics from 2009 show that there were more suicide deaths in South Australia than there were road fatalities. That is not to diminish the tragedy of a road fatality, as they are terrible also, and I have experienced that in my own family, but lot of people do not realise that more people take their own life than are killed on the road. It is not a reason to do nothing about both issues, but it puts it into some context.

In 2009, there were 187 suicide deaths and 119 road fatalities. Fortunately, road fatalities have reduced, and to some extent in South Australia suicide deaths have also reduced somewhat in recent times. A survey was taken in 2007 on mental health and wellbeing in Australia and, based on that survey, it was estimated that about 65,000 people in Australia make a non-fatal suicide attempt, which is quite a significant number. Likewise, that survey estimated that about 146,000 men and 222,000 women experience suicidal thoughts in any given 12-month period, so we are talking about a significant number of people. One suicide death is one too many.

I said before that the approach to these ongoing tragedies has changed, and I quote from the South Australian Suicide Prevention Strategy 2012-16, prepared by the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist at the end of last year. The action plan recommended by the chief psychiatrist includes:

1. Take action to break the silence around suicide—

and that is the point I was making earlier. Previously, people wanted to keep it quiet and not say anything, but that does not address the issue—

raise awareness and reduce the stigma in the community—

so a change in strategy to deal with this tragedy is recommended by the chief psychiatrist, and:

2. Promote mental health and wellbeing, and prevent mental health problems.

3. Provide early intervention programs and screening.

4. Support collaboration between local networks and agencies to reduce individual and community risks and strengthen protective factors.

5. Reduce access to means of suicide.

The approach has changed, and fortunately (and I welcome this) there now seems to be a greater acceptance and acknowledgement of mental health issues in the community. We would be naive to think that there is no stigma attached to mental health issues. The reality is that there is, but I think as a community we are becoming better at accepting that mental health issues exist, and there is a greater willingness to try to deal with them. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

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