The governor general, Sir Peter Cosgrove, has urged governments and researchers to come up with new and creative approaches to stop the 2,500 suicides around the country every year.
Opening the National Suicide Prevention Conference in Hobart on Monday, Cosgrove said Australia’s suicide rate was “not a situation that any society can tolerate”.
“Despite all the time, resources and energy that has gone into suicide prevention, our suicide rates still demand our attention,” he said.
“Suicide is the leading cause of death for both men and women under 44.
Of all the deaths of young people, suicide is the cause in one in four cases.
“And, very sadly, the difficulties and discrimination still faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people is reflected in the fact that they are 14 times more likely to try to take their lives than members of the heterosexual community.”
About 370,000 Australians thought about taking their lives every year, and of those, 65,000 attempted to do so, he said. Many people were left seriously injured by those attempts.
“There are no simple answers, no single cause and no easy plan of attack,” he told conference delegates.
“What we do know is that we have to try something different, to find new approaches, to be creative, to come up with new ideas, new innovations and new ways of doing things, whether from government, business, the not-for-profit sector or the research community.
“Or whether from practitioners, families or people with a lived experience of suicide, our challenge is to come together, to connect, to share and learn and to contribute to a system that saves lives – a system that makes the goal of halving suicide rates over the next 10 years a reality.”
Men accounted for 74.7% of the 2,520 suicides in Australia in 2013, Australian Bureau of Statistics data show.
Cosgrove urged young men in particular to talk about any feelings of depression they may experience and to get support through programs such as MensLink and Beyondblue, both of which he is a patron of.
“Anxiety, depression and, of course, suicide can affect anyone,” he said.
“And feelings of stigma and isolation often stop people reaching out for the treatment they need.”
- The number for crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. More information is available at the ManTherapy website.
