Ms McBRIDE (Dobell—Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health) (09:01): This Sunday is World Suicide Prevention Day. For many people it may be just another day, but, for the families, friends and loved ones of the 3,000 Australians who die by suicide each year, it will be a day of reflection and remembering. Nine people, of whom six are men, die by suicide each day. Young people are most at risk, with suicide remaining the leading cause of death for Australians between 15 and 44 years of age. First Nations Australians are twice as likely to die by suicide than non-Indigenous Australians. That reality is front of mind when I think about why we need an Indigenous voice, because our best chance to overcome the distress from the intergenerational trauma faced by First Nations Australians is through listening and real action. While milestones of reconciliation, including the 1967 referendum, the 1992 Mabo decision and the 2008 National Apology to the Stolen Generations, did much to advance Indigenous representation rights, there is still much more to do. For my me and my colleagues, Sunday is a reminder that we must take every action we can, collectively, to better understand and address the factors that lead to suicide. Its impacts are devastating and far reaching, through families, friends, first responders, schools and communities. In this chamber and in the other place, suicide and suicide prevention is a non-partisan issue because our actions and our words matter. While the reasons for an individual's suicide are personal and often complex, overall peaks and troughs in rates and the numbers of death by suicide historically coincide more or less with social and economic events. Because of that, we cannot separate the distress that many people across the world are facing, including here in Australia, from the experience of the global pandemic. We all have heard and know stories of distress, loneliness, isolation and hopelessness. These are the stories of family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and strangers. We must also acknowledge that, like many catastrophic events, the trauma that follows will often have a very long tail and the impact will be felt most heavily by the most vulnerable. There are strong links between mental ill health and suicide, which is why we're determined to provide compassionate, trauma informed and effective support and care to people who need it. We are boosting support in communities by introducing Head to Health clinics, which provide free mental health information, support and care to adults—and I acknowledge the former government for introducing this important program—and strengthening the network of more than 150 headspace centres across the country for young people aged 12 to 25. We're also working side by side with the states and territories to introduce kids hubs to address mental ill health through earlier intervention and prevention. We are strengthening our primary care to make it easier and more accessible to see a GP. From 1 November, we are indexing the Medicare rebate and tripling the bulk-billing incentive. This is important because a GP is often the front door to mental health support and care. But we also recognise that the causes of suicide are complex—economic, cultural and social determinants interacting with individual risk factors over a lifetime. People who die by suicide typically have three or four risk factors or drivers of distress, including unemployment, financial insecurity, domestic and family violence and past or compounded trauma. That's why we must focus on addressing the drivers of distress through a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach to suicide prevention. What this means is responding through mental health supports and at the same time working to help reduce the underlying pressures in people's lives. Right at the top of that list is reducing financial pressure through cost-of-living relief. In a few weeks time, on 20 September, the base rate of working-age and student payments such as Youth Allowance and Parenting Payment will increase, including JobSeeker. We are providing more funding to address housing insecurity and homelessness so that every Australian has the dignity and security of a home. We are working in close partnerships with the state and territory governments to increase supply and to provide certainty to individuals, to families and to communities. We are committed, as a parliament, to addressing domestic family and sexual violence. With a GP working full time in Australia today seeing up to five women every week who are victims-survivors of gender based violence in the past 12 months, it is clear that much more needs to be done. That's why we're implementing the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children and better equipping our healthcare workers to earlier identify and link in with support and care those who are at risk. We also need to make sure that communities are buffered from the impact of the increased frequency and severity of natural disasters, which is why we've introduced the National Disaster Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework, giving our first responders the very best of support while they support and protect us. Work across government, beyond the provision of health care, is necessary if we are to reduce the rates and numbers of deaths by suicide because, despite increasing expenditure on mental health services and suicide prevention, Australia has not seen a significant decrease in the number of lives lost to suicide in more than two decades. We also know that around 40 per cent of people who die by suicide have no diagnosed mental health or behavioural disorders. Suicide risk is directly linked to socioeconomic issues, with those living in the lowest socioeconomic areas having more than double the rate of suicide compared to those in the highest. Those looking for work are far more likely to take their own lives than those in work. We need to improve not just our systems of health care and mental health support but our laws, structures and policies that often trap people in cycles of disadvantage, leading to homelessness, distress and crisis. A few months ago, the Treasurer released the very first Measuring whatmatters statement. It is a big step in the right direction for us as a parliament and as a nation, recognising that economic indicators can only tell us so much; they're just part of the picture, as important as they are. As the Treasurer has said, this document is designed: … to help us better understand how we are faring as we pursue a more healthy, secure, sustainable, cohesive and prosperous Australia. While governments shape policy, this day serves as an important reminder that change can occur in every home, in every school, in every sports club, in very suburb and in every city around Australia. While suicide is an individual act, rates of suicide reflect communities, and we each have a role to play. As has been mentioned, the theme of World Suicide Prevention Day this year globally is 'Creating hope through action'—a reminder that we can each act and respond compassionately, empathetically and respectfully to people experiencing distress. Together, we can make sure that no-one has to face their darkest moments alone.