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PDF printable version of Australian Government Delivers on Suicide Prevention Election Commitment (PDF 31 KB)

1 July 2011

The Gillard Labor Government is delivering on a key election commitment to provide more services for people who are at risk of suicide.

The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler today confirmed that from 1 July, funding will flow for a range of new services.

“The Gillard Government is investing more than $160 million over 5 years to tackle suicide, effectively redoubling our investment in suicide prevention efforts,” Mr Butler said.

“We are boosting frontline services for people at greatest risk of suicide and investing in direct suicide prevention and crisis intervention measures.

“Our priority is ensuring that people in crisis can access the care and support they need, when they need it.”

From 1 July,

• Calls to Lifeline will now be free for all mobile services in Australia. Around 115,000 mobile calls are made to Lifeline each year.
• Lifeline has also been provided additional funding to increase the capacity of their existing services ensuring around 700,000 calls are being answered.
• Funding will be available for Divisions of General Practice to provide 37,500 people who have attempted or are at risk of suicide with access to psychological services to help reduce repeated attempts at suicide.
• The highly successful KidsMatter Primary initiative will be rolled out to a further 1,700 schools over the next three years, providing these schools with resources to support the development of good social and emotional wellbeing for an extra 348,000 school aged children.
• The current 30 youth friendly headspace services have all received a significant increase in their base level of funding to provide additional services to boost their capacity to provide care and support to young Australians.
• Funding has already been provided for Indigenous communities in the Kimberley Region for suicide prevention initiatives, psychological services and associated education and training.

In addition to services coming online on 1 July:

• Capital work to improve the safety and security of known suicide ‘hotspots’ is underway, with construction work at the first of the hotspots close to being complete.
• Funding is being provided to develop an outreach service to schools, involving a nationwide network of mental health promotion officers.
• Funding will flow to provide frontline community workers with training to help them better identify and respond to people at risk, or who have attempted suicide.
• The Government has announced that $6 million of the $22.9 million to support community led suicide prevention activities will be allocated specifically for indigenous communities around Australia over the next 4 years.

The delivery of these key measures demonstrates the Government’s commitment to providing more and better services for people who are at greatest risk of suicide, their carers and their families.

“Our investment in suicide prevention measures and the new mental health services announced in this year’s budget represent the single largest investment in mental health in Australian history,” Mr Butler said.
For more information, contact Mr Butler’s office 02 6277 7280