Matthew Tukaki, the Director of Suicide Prevention Australia, gave a presentation to representatives from Setagaya City Council, Japan in October 2012. He discussed SPA's work promoting suicide prevention nationally and collaborating with governments and organizations. He provided data on Australia's suicide rates, noting challenges in remote areas. Tukaki highlighted SPA's efforts to improve data collection and examples of working with local communities, such as the City of Casey which saw multiple youth suicides. He advocated for greater coordination and investment in prevention services to help all at-risk Australians.

1. オーストラリアへようこそ
Welcome to Members
and Representatives of
the Setagaya City
Council, Japan
October 2012
Matthew Tukaki
Director of the Board of Suicide Prevention Australia
CEO and Executive Chairman of the Sustain Group

2. Presentation Contents…
プレゼンテーションの内容
 About Suicide Prevention Australia
 What do we do?
 Who do we represent?
 Who do we work with?
 Suicide in Australia
 Thematic areas and groups
 Data and information sharing
 Government Policies
 The challenges of suicide prevention in a large country
 Remote versus city
 The role of social media and traditional media
 Examples of work at the national and local level
 The City of Casey in Melbourne (Local Government / City Council)
 Summary and vote of thanks

3. Who we are…
誰が私たちですか？
 Established twenty years ago
 Australia’s peak mental health body for suicide prevention
 Member based organisations representing both and small and large
organisations
 Working with the Australian Federal, State and Territory Governments when
it comes to policy development and advocacy
 Developing position statements around some of the key issues and
challenges when it comes to suicide prevention such as GLBTI, Regional
and Remote Areas, Indigenous Australians, Young Men and the Aged
 We work with the nations largest service and frontline providers, clinicians,
government policy makers and individuals alike

4. Who we are…
誰が私たちですか？
 We have established a variety of sector and community engagement
initiatives as part of our knowledge sharing and collaboration activities:
 The National Committee for Standardised Reporting
 The Coalition for Suicide Prevention
 The Lived Experience Policy Advisory Committee
 We better inform Government @ the State level through our representation
on various State Mental Health Commissions (New South Wales, Victoria
and Western Australia)
 We represent more than 150 of the nations service providers, sector and
individuals

5. Who we are…
誰が私たちですか？
 Suicide Prevention Australia is Governed by a Board with some members
who are elected and others who are appointed – our Board has a mix of
skills from frontline and policy development, to service delivery and clinical,
business and executive / professional
 We have a small team that includes people from research and
communications backgrounds, event management and policy development,
fundraising and general administration

6. Position Statements… 位置の文
 Providing thought leadership
that assists the community and
sector develop their own
strategies and positions when it
comes to key areas of focus and
concern
 Enabling knowledge transfer
and collaboration

7. Suicide in Australia: Talking
Points…

8. We are a large and vast country…but…
 While we have a relatively small population
by comparison (Japan 2011: 127 817 277 & Australia 2011:
22,620,600) we have a relatively high rate of
suicide in the world
 Although compared with Australia Japan
per 100,000 head of population has on
average 23.8 per year (Male: 33.5 &
Female: 14.6) while the Australia figure is
9.7 deaths per 100,000 (Male: 4.5 and
Female: 4.5). The land mass of Japan
 Approximately 2000 Australians die from could easily fit into the
central desert of Australia
suicide every year. Men are 4 times more
likely to die by suicide than women
Figures provided by the World Health Organisation: Unless otherwise stated all statistics are
from WHO: "Suicide rates per 100,000 by country, year and sex (Table)". World Health Organization.
2011. Retrieved 2012-01-26.

9. Figures…
 Over the past decade, about 2100 people
have died by suicide each year.
 There were 2132 deaths from suicide
registered in 2009
 Deaths from suicide represented 1.4% of
all deaths registered in 2009
 In Australia 48% of all suicides in 2000
were by 35-64 year olds; an additional
13% were by 65% and over.
 The suicide rates for children younger
than 15 years is estimated to have
increased by 92% between the 1960s to
1990s
 Suicide rates are generally higher
amongst males, rural and regional
dwellers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people. Lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender (GLBT) people may be
at increased risk.

10. Data collection… データ コレクション
 We have no single collection point for data (NCSRS) and have been
working on a common form for front line responders
 Data is sometimes out of date and skewed / there are many reasons for this
ranging from the time the data is collected through to the length of time it
may take for a coroner to make a formal decision
 SPA has been instrumental in bringing all of the key stakeholders to the
table to find a way of establishing a much more structured and timely
process for the collection of information
In the USA CDC has funded 18 states
and established the National Violent
Death Reporting System (NVDRS) to
gather, share, and link state-level data
on violent deaths. NVDRS provides CDC
and states with a more accurate
understanding of violent deaths. This
enables policy makers and community
leaders to make informed decisions
about violence prevention programs,
including those that address suicide.

11. The City of Casey…
• The City of Casey has been at the heart of
media attention in recent months as the
community grapples with an increasing
youth suicide
• Known as the Berwick cluster, the
community came together in public to try
and identify what some of the root causes
could be and what could be done to better
support young people and their families
• The challenges were highlighted by a
national television program known as “Four
Corners”
• “1 school lost 4 kids in 12 months”
• Many deaths have been death by train
• It is a silent killer

12. There is no 3G in Heaven
“Until now the accepted wisdom has been to publicly downplay suicide but in speaking to families
who've lost children, reporter Liz Jackson found that young people are in fact talking about
suicide all the time on facebook. Social media has the potential to influence behaviour, for better
or worse, and it's now accepted that suicide prevention strategies need to deal with this. As one
parent explains, it was only after the death of her child that she realised her daughter had been
discussing her depression and suicidal thoughts on facebook. When calls and messages kept
coming addressed to her deceased daughter the mother was forced to write:
"Can everyone please stop calling and messaging (my daughter). She doesn't have her phone. I
do. And by the way there is no 3G in heaven.“
Four Corners tells the story of one community in a major Australian city where the threat of
repeated suicides amongst young people became so overwhelming that families and community
leaders, backed by mental health experts, held an old fashioned public meeting to allow the
families and friends of the victims to tell their stories. It was a bold and controversial step but it
was the only way they felt they could deal with the situation. In doing so the community hoped
they could break the terrible silence and find a way to confront this silent enemy. You will be
shocked by what you see.”
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/09/06/3584646.htm ABC Four Corners

13. The need to do more…
我々 はより多くを行うことができます
“As a member of the Board of Suicide Prevention Australia I want
every life to count, but I want to see better coordination in the sector,
greater investment on prevention and more talk about the issues. In
particular I want to ensure that whether your first language is English
or not, young or old, your sexual orientation is different to mine or
you live in a regional and remote community – you have the same
access to the very services needed to keep you with us and not lost
from us.”
Matthew Tukaki, Australian Representative to the United Nations Global Compact Addressing the
Sydney Peace Foundation / September 2012, Director of the Board, Suicide Prevention Australia

14. Reference Points…参照点
 City of Casey Profile of young people:
http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/doclib/document30Jun2011-
144119.pdf?saveAs=Profile_of_Young_People_Living_in_the_City_of_Casey_v30Jun11.pdf
 Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Australian Institute for Suicide
Research and Prevention, 2011
 Facts and Statistics, Mindframe National Media Initiative, 2011
 Facts and Statistics, Mindframe National Media Initiative, 2011
 Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Australian Institute for Suicide
Research and Prevention, 2011
 Trends and predictors of suicide in Australian children, Australian Institute for Suicide Research
and Prevention, 2011
 Facts and Statistics, Mindframe National Media Initiative, 2011
 Figures provided by the World Health Organisation: Unless otherwise stated all statistics are
from WHO: "Suicide rates per 100,000 by country, year and sex (Table)". World Health
Organization. 2011.
 http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/datasources.html
 There is no 3G in Heaven / ABC Four Corners:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/09/06/3584646.htm

15. ありがとう
Thank you
www.suicidepreventionaust.org.au