Call for Suicide Minister

A FEDERAL minister for suicide prevention is needed as the number of Australians taking their own lives reaches record levels of eight people per day.

Suicide Prevention Australia has proposed the idea and is also calling on both major parties to introduce a Commonwealth Suicide Prevention Act, establish a National Suicide Prevention Office and collect better data.

It also wants Centrelink workers, financial advisers, community housing workers and teachers and others to be trained to identify people at risk of taking their own lives.

Suicide is not just a mental health issue and coronial data shows fewer than half those who take their own lives have a mental health diagnosis, said Suicide Prevention Australia CEO Nieves Murray.

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