Five Indigenous girls, aged between 12 and 15, have taken their lives in the early weeks of 2019 following a series of separate youth suicides.
The series of deaths, first reported by The Australian, is believed to have begun on January 3, when a 15-year-old girl from Western Australia died in Townsville Hospital from injuries caused by self-harm. Last week a 12-year-old girl died in the Pilbara mining town of Port Hedland, Western Australia, while a 14-year-old girl died in the East Kimberley community of Warmun.
A 15-year-old girl from Perth also died last Thursday, and a 12-year-old girl from a town near Adelaide died last Friday.
The five suicides in two weeks have led to fears that Aboriginal people dying from self-harm could spiral to devastating figures this year. On average more than 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders suicide each year – a figure that is almost double those recorded for other Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project reports.
Gerry Georgatos, who heads up the federal government’s Indigenous critical response team, said: “Suicides are predominantly borne of poverty and disparities.”
Writing in The Guardian, Georgatos described rural communities as being disparate from the rest of Australian society, where high incarceration rates infect communities, few complete schooling, employment is scant and “all hope is extinguished”.
He also said sexual abuse and self-harm played a role in suicides, with the recent spike taking the lives of young girls being “notable”.
A Senate inquiry in December found that mental health services in rural and remote areas were lacking and are often not culturally appropriate.
The West Australian Government has advised that coordinators have been installed in every region of the state, alongside Aboriginal mental health programs.
Federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the government, through the Department of Health, was also investing $84.75m over three years to improve access to culturally sensitive mental health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Scullion yesterday said every suicide was a tragedy and the effects on tight-knit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were profound.
“The government commissioned the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project which was led by indigenous leaders, professor Pat Dudgeon and Tom Calma, to develop community-led solutions,” he said.
“We are also committed to working with indigenous families to ensure their children are attending school and adults are in work which will support healthier communities.”
If you or anyone you know needs help or advice, please call Lifeline (131 114) or Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636). If you need help immediately, please call 000.
