Indigenous Leaders Call Australian Governments to Action on Indigenous Child and Youth Suicide

The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) was established by the Australian Government to help reduce the causes, prevalence and impact of suicide on Indigenous individuals, families and communities. In November 2018, CBPATSISP hosted two Indigenous-specific suicide prevention conferences in Perth that brought together 500 delegates from the national and international Indigenous communities to identify solutions that work in Indigenous suicide prevention.

The delegates called Australian governments to action: to declare, and respond to, Indigenous suicide rates, including child and youth suicide rates, as a national crisis. The importance and relevance of their call is only reinforced by recent events. Four Queensland children and young people between 15 and 23 years old have taken their lives in the past fortnight. This adds to a spate of child deaths in Adelaide and Western Australia only months before. CBPATSISP Director Professor Pat Dudgeon commented: Read Full Media Release