Mrs GASH (11:37 AM) —I rise today to speak on the issue of youth suicide, an issue which affects many people throughout Australia, none more so than the residents of one of the towns in my electorate of Gilmore, the residents of Bundanoon. Before preparing to speak on this issue, whilst concerned, I knew little about youth suicide. But just recently I discovered my own electorate was amongst the worst affected and did not know how to do anything about it. I must admit that I thought twice about relating this story to the parliament. However, in deciding to do so, I felt that you, my colleagues, could also be affected by the tragedy that has occurred and which we must all face as community representatives.

Bundanoon is a close knit rural community situated in the southern highlands. Its 1,800 residents have regular routines—working, visiting their families, relaxing in retirement, working for the community, meeting socially, looking after each other's children and each other, and lobbying the local council on issues they feel will affect them and their families. In fact, I am immensely proud of the residents of Bundanoon in the work they have achieved as a community. It was also my privilege to have served these residents as a former councillor of the Wingecarribee Shire and in my former role as tourism manager some years ago and now as their federal member.

Bundanoon could be like any other rural community in Australia except the residents are reeling from the suicide of five people in recent months and possibly a sixth person in the neighbouring town of Exeter. This has left the town dazed and confused, asking why and searching for answers. To give other members a sense of what the community is going through, I would like to quote from a newspaper article which appeared in the local paper at the time of the first suicides. The paper stated:

No-one knows for sure why sleepy Bundanoon has been hit with an extraordinary wave of suicides.

The reason for one death was clear enough—the 77-year-old business man was in failing health.

One other victim in his 30s was soon to be retrenched, but, apparently, was optimistic about his future.

The youngest victim, 19, had a secure life and a bright future. He was nothing like the stereotyped young suicide victim. He was working with his dad in the family tree-clearing business and he was popular. He had prospects, money in the bank, and the support of his mum, dad and older sister . . . but none of that was in his mind when he killed himself.

In Bundanoon there seem to be few answers.

All victims were known to each other. Two were the best mates who took their lives just 11 days apart, yet so far there is no common link and it still remains a mystery. Hundreds of local residents gathered at the public meeting to discuss their feelings and concerns for their community. I commend the organisers for their initiative and the residents who attended for the bravery and care during such a difficult time for them.

While it is recognised that not all the victims were young people, the impact of any suicide on family members, friends and even acquaintances and strangers in a small community can be enough to destroy their confidence and make them question their own judgments and lives. I do not believe that federal politicians have a role to play in intruding on the grief of the residents of Bundanoon. However, I believe we have a responsibility to do what we can to make sure it does not continue.

As you are all aware, Australia has the fifth highest male suicide rate of all developed countries across all age groups with an average of 18 people in every 100,000 taking their own lives, a crisis in anyone's language. What was once a taboo subject to be ignored at all costs and certainly not mentioned in public is now one of the biggest killers of our young people. The recent Australian youth forum held in Canberra and attended by young delegates from all over Australia listed youth suicide as one of the top 10 issues facing young Australians today. Many of you would be aware of the recommendations which came out of that forum. However, I believe it is necessary to highlight some of them because this is the voice of young people talking in their own words.

The underlying message was that greater education awareness programs were needed to reduce the number of young people who felt the need to take their own lives. The recommendations included continued government funding for essential suicide prevention services; ensuring adequate counselling was available in schools, universities and workplaces; implementing programs in the school curriculum which emphasise the importance of companionship, mentoring, communication, self-value and self-esteem; and increasing a positive image of young people in the media which is identified as being very important for improving the self-image young people have.

One of the most interesting comments to come out of the youth forum recommendations on youth suicide was that society must learn to shift its focus from the material to the ethical and to emphasise values, not value, and to assist in lowering the unrealistic expectations which currently burden Australia's young people and which are seen as a direct contributor to youth suicide. As one young American youth worker commented at the forum:

The thing I've noticed here in Australia is that kids are very down on themselves almost as if you train your kids that way like you're saying `Try and be the same as everyone else, don't excel, don't stand out, just get by.'

The youth worker went on to say:

Without the encouragement to achieve something, what can they do? Most rural kids don't have a hope. City kids are overloaded. Country kids are trapped—both feel the other location is the answer. Neither are right. Well meaning people who help them, particularly in the country areas, burn out after a few years.

Already action is being taken by people in the community and I am fortunate enough to represent an electorate which is quick to help itself. Prior to the Bundanoon tragedies, a resident of nearby Burrawang was already working on a video which focuses on youth suicide. Film producer Jan Howe's video looks at ways of promoting high self-esteem in young people as well as ways to help others identify signs of suicidal depression. The video is unique in that it is aimed at youth helping youth and draws on a wide range of not only expert opinion but also youth experience which is vital to get the message across to all people in the community.

In a recent review Jan Howe said that one of the most important things was harnessing the energy of young people to help other young people. She said:

They want to lead, to do, to achieve. They say they want not only to make a difference but they want to be involved in making it happen.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Jan for her initiative and to urge all members to support any efforts by Australians to combat this ever increasing epidemic.

I would now like to take up the point on where we as individuals and as community representatives can improve the image that the community and young people have of themselves, because I think that is fundamental to helping young people look for an alternative to suicide. You can throw all the money in the world at the problem, but it will not improve the situation if the underlying issue is one of lacking a sense of purpose and vision. Through the media we get negative images of young people. This can only be described as a reflection of ourselves and the vision we are offering them for the future.

According to Captain David Woodbury of the Salvation Army, hope is one of the biggest motivators which can lift a person out of despair. `If we are to reverse the alarming youth suicide rate,' he says, `then we must give young people something worth believing in, a conviction that the future will be better than now.' Many young people are cynical about their future and the society we have created for them by our decisions. This is something which I believe contributes to giving young people a very limited set of options and to leaving them feeling abandoned.

In Australia today more than 2,000 deaths a year are recorded as suicide. In men aged 15 to 24, the rate is currently in the vicinity of 25 to 30 per 100,000 people. You would have heard many theories about why this is so: some of them will have considered the fact that young people are looking for attention in a world that moves too fast to make an impact; another would be that, as a society, we no longer have initiation rites for young men, so they take to challenging themselves and each other in extreme situations such as street racing and gangs. There is no simple explanation for the horrific youth suicide rate, except to say we have failed our young people. Since 1943, the youth suicide rate amongst men has risen while suicide amongst young women has remained relatively stable but still at an unacceptably high five per 100,000 people.

A number of studies have been produced that identify high risk groups such as those with a mental illness, rural and remote residents and indigenous Australians. Yet we have not been able to stop the tide. A 1992 survey of teenagers in Victoria found that more than five per cent of year 11 boys and 15 per cent of year 11 girls reported having thoughts about suicide in the week before the survey. In Western Australia, 23.5 per cent of 15- to 16-year-olds surveyed by the Child Health Group had reported often considering suicide in the previous six months. There are a number of reports which suggest evidence that copycat suicides may impact heavily on some young people, while the death of a close friend can also have the opposite effect on others.

All in all, the most staggering figure to be reported is the cost of suicide. Measured in years of potential life lost, from 1983 to 1992 the number of years lost is estimated to be more than 230,000 years. That is 230,000 years of effort and energy which our young people, who would have eventually grown older, should have contributed to the community. It is 230,000 years which the community would have no doubt benefited from in terms of experience, commitment and dedication. And this figure does not include the lives of the children these young people may have had, or grandchildren, and their eventual impact on our communities.

The May 1997 report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs entitled Aspects of youth suicide recommended that a National Advisory Council on Youth Suicide Prevention be established to advise the minister and government. This could be combined with a recent suggestion by Dr Brendan Nelson, the member for Bradfield, to create a separate department and ministry for youth, with youth representatives providing advice—a proposal I fully support. The report also recommended that funding be targeted to the most effective areas and that a comprehensive education campaign be established to prevent youth suicide.

We, as leaders of the community from all sides of the political arena, have done everything we should have in terms of reports, reviews and recommendations. Where we have failed our young people is in changing attitudes so that our perceptions of their future are reflected back to us in the most appropriate, enthusiastic and opportunistic way.

One way we may be able to arrest this is through the initiative of organisations such as Here for Life, which is hosting The Australian People's Forum on Youth Suicide at Old Parliament House on 10 and 11 August 1998. The theme of the forum is `Partnering with the community to understand and prevent' and it asks the question: with one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world, are we really the lucky country? The Australian people's forum is a chance for people from all areas of the wider society to voice their ideas and opinions and to bring together representatives from the community to better understand the issue of youth suicide and to develop workable solutions to prevent this problem.

I would like to conclude by returning to where I started, to a place close to my heart and to a place which is recovering from the impact of such tragedies—Bundanoon. The public meeting which attracted hundreds of local residents considered a detailed action plan to cope with the past and to move on from the tragedy. The action plan, largely written by the Anglican minister, Reverend Wayne Tildsley, draws on the community spirit of the Bundanoon community. It involves counselling sessions, community gatherings, relationship enrichment seminars for couples, and advice for parents and teenagers. Reverend Tildsley said a process of reconciliation had begun. It started with people reconnecting with each other, and accepting each other without judging them or trying to change them or even to offer solutions. I believe that, if we are to have a chance to help our young people, we need to be able to reconnect with them and to give them a feeling of sovereignty over what is also their community and their nation, but most of all—their home!

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Forrest) —I call the honourable member for Fisher, the chairman of the committee that produced this report.