House debates Statements by Members
Mental Health
Rowan Holzberger Forde, Australian Labor Party
1:46 pm
All MPs would have received an email this week from Nieves Murray of Suicide Prevention Australia telling us that in 2025 3,283 Australians died by suicide. Male suicide has decreased slightly but is still around three-quarters of one per cent. Suicide impacts people of all ages of people—men and women—across Australia. Gut-wrenchingly, the number of children who died by suicide increased from 70 to 100 last year, meaning nearly two children a week are dying by suicide. Among occupation groups, we are losing male workers in the technicians and trades industries at a rate nearly four times higher than the general population and female workers who work in health professions and social professions and trades. These are the people building Australia. These are the people looking after our kids in child care and our parents in aged care. We have to do better, but we also have to get the message out that we are fixing a broken system. In Logan, we've set up the Logan Medicare Mental Health Centre, where all you need is your Medicare card. We set up a brand new one in Pimpama in the northern Gold Coast. We've expanded our headspace for kids in Upper Coomera and in Logan, and we've set up the Medicare mental health line, which you can get help with on the phone. We know the system is broken, but we are fixing it. We need to get the message out there that help is available. Pick up the phone. Talk to a mate. Give me a call. Remember there is help there.
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