Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Men are often not good at speaking up when they need help. Too many boys and men suffer in silence, trying to push through hardship on their own. But, in Australia, there is already something screaming out that men and boys need help, and that's the alarming statistics showing Australian males dying prematurely and from preventable causes. The life expectancy gap between men and women, with men living around five per cent fewer years on average, tells only part of the story. A clearer picture comes from looking at the potential years of life lost, which measures the years lost through premature death. In 2023, Australia lost more than 913,000 potential years of life from premature death, with the male rate at a staggering 64 per cent higher than the female rate. One of the big drivers of this burden is suicide. Of the 3,307 Australians who died by suicide in 2024, 2,529 were males, more than 75 per cent. Last year, the number of men and boys who took their own lives was almost double the national road toll. Yet the recently released National Suicide Prevention Strategy, while acknowledging these terrible statistics for Australian men, does not contain a broader male population response. The minister's foreword does not even mention male suicide.

The same pattern exists beyond suicide. Men have higher rates of lung cancer, liver disease and heart disease, yet receive comparatively little targeted attention in the health policy. The 2025 budget rightly included a significant $792 million investment in women's health. Since 2022, the Albanese government has allocated over $1.4 billion towards women's and men's health initiatives. However, according to the Australian Men's Health Forum, less than two per cent of that funding went specifically to men's health.

The imbalance is also reflected in medical research, with the National Health and Medical Research Council showing expenditure on women's health research in 2025 more than six times higher than that on men's health research. Australia rightly measures gender gaps to address poor outcomes and disadvantage, making much-needed and welcome improvements for women. But, when men are dying younger, making up over 75 per cent of suicides and carrying a greater burden of preventable diseases, is it not time we treated the gender life gap with the serious national attention that it also deserves?

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