New South Wales: 'Practical' plans to prevent suicide pass Parliament

Suicide prevention will not be a box-ticking exercise under plans to hold state debt collectors and government agencies accountable for reducing deaths.

Strategies would focus on ways they could make a difference for people experiencing suicidal ideation, NSW Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson told reporters on Thursday.

“Not on motherhood statements, not on ticking boxes, but on practical examples of things that the government can do to intervene at that key moment when someone’s surrounded by darkness and feeling as though there’s no way out,” Ms Jackson said.

The plan will consider training for railway workers to identify and approach people in distress on platforms, site management in national parks, and revenue agency interactions with people under financial strain.

Legislation making every arm of government accountable for preventing suicide passed the NSW parliament on Wednesday.

All government agencies including NSW Police have until 2027 to develop bespoke plans.

The sort of obligations created by the scheme were reflected in consultation about the government’s attempted changes to how psychological injuries were treated in the state’s workers’ compensation scheme, Ms Jackson said.

“Participation in the scheme as it is currently structured can be a traumatising event for people,” she said.

“The reform of government policies will have to have a mind to suicide prevention,” she said.

“If the way that government policies are currently working is contributing to distress, as is the case with the current workers’ compensation scheme, then the government should put up its hand and say ‘well, we need reform’.

“We need to do things differently and that’s what we’re doing.”

Providing more support for injured workers could prevent them from being re-traumatised, general practitioner and Greens MP Amanda Cohn said.

“Cutting off care and support for injured workers will directly cause harm and undermine any agency suicide prevention plan,” Dr Cohn told AAP.

The suicide prevention law is aimed at reducing suicides and increasing government agencies’ capabilities in prevention.

Another aim is to address disproportionately impacted populations, including through culturally appropriate initiatives for Aboriginal people.

The rate of Aboriginal suicide is projected to worsen, despite Closing the Gap targets for a “significant and sustained reduction”.

“They are experiencing over-representation in mental illness and over-representation in deaths by suicide,” Ms Jackson said.

“We wanted to specifically call out and have a plan led by First Nations people to respond to that.”

The state’s Mental Health Commission will prepare a statewide suicide prevention plan, with a statewide council and another specific to Aboriginal suicide prevention.

New prevention councils will advise on preparing and implementing both plans

The commission will also be required to publish summaries of recommendations and advice from both councils, including whether they will be accepted and how they will be implemented.

South Australia introduced similar laws in 2021.

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