Hon Peter Dunne: Address to Suicide Prevention Information NZ
11 September 2009

Mercure Hotel, Wellington

9am, Friday, 11 September 2009

Good morning and welcome to the second day of the SPINZ National Symposium: ‘Culture and Suicide Prevention in Aotearoa’.
It is an honour to be here today, and I trust that the first half of the symposium has provided you with plenty of opportunities for learning, inspiration and networking.
As Associate Minister of Health, I have responsibility for the area of suicide prevention.
I take this responsibility very seriously and intend to ensure that the work in this crucial area continues.
I don’t need to tell you that suicide is an important issue for New Zealand.

It is a tragedy that every year too many people cannot see any way out other than to take their own life.
They may be experiencing unbearable psychological pain or are in a seemingly inescapable situation.
But suicide is preventable: there are many points at which we can intervene and help to turn things around.
Suicide has a devastating effect on family, whanau, friends and the community, so anything we can do to prevent it also has the potential to prevent pain and grief for countless others.
The portfolio of suicide prevention is new for me, and I would like to acknowledge that many of you have been working in this difficult but important area for many years.

I thank you for your dedication and hard work.
I am also grateful for the support of the Honorable Tariana Turia, who opened this symposium yesterday.
We are committed to working together to ensure that there is continued focus and investment in Maori suicide prevention.
As well as Minister Turia, I have the support of other ministerial colleagues.

Last month I chaired the first meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Suicide Prevention for this Government.
At the meeting, there was support from many Ministers for the continued efforts in this area.
This support is crucial, because – as I am sure you are well aware – suicide prevention requires a collaborative and sustained effort across sectors.
Yesterday, I understand the focus was on whanau-centred approaches to Maori suicide prevention that take into account the influence that culture has on well-being.
I am told that today this perspective will be broadened to Pacific culture and how more generic services and initiatives can work to be responsive to a person’s culture.
Our plans to prevent suicide must include targeted initiatives for people who are most at risk of suicide, as well as initiatives to create a society that promotes mental health and wellbeing; one in which people can reach out for help without fear and can access services when they need them.
With the global economic crisis hitting hard, this work becomes even more important as worry about job security and financial hardship grows.
The Government’s approach to suicide prevention is outlined in the New Zealand Suicide Prevention Strategy.
This approach emphasises that whatever we do needs to be safe, effective, evidence based and responsive to Maori.
It also needs to recognise that preventing suicide requires work in a wide range of areas.
The health sector cannot do this alone; it requires support from many sectors including education, corrections, justice, social development, and youth development.
The New Zealand Suicide Prevention Action Plan puts the strategy into action.
It puts New Zealand and international evidence into practice by giving us a clear set of priorities for action on suicide prevention.
It spells out how each action will be achieved, which agency is responsible for it and when it will happen.
A focus on how actions will be responsive to Maori and contribute to whanau ora is also interwoven throughout the Action Plan.
So how are we doing in implementing the Action Plan?
Today, I am proud to launch a report that outlines our progress on implementing the Action Plan over the first year.
There has been considerable progress and many notable achievements.
As a reflection of this, approximately 70 percent of the 53 specific actions in the Action Plan are currently under way.
For example:
• Five suicide prevention co-ordinators have been established in DHBs throughout the country to ensure that local suicide prevention activities in the community are integrated and effective.
• There has been an increase in the reach and effectiveness of the National Depression Initiative and associated support services which aim to reduce the impact of depression, the largest single contributor to suicidal behaviour.
• The Towards Wellbeing programme has achieved a reduction in suicides among children and young people under the care of Child Youth and Family services; these young people are about 10 times more likely to die by suicide than their peers.
• The Postvention Support Service has been reconfigured to more effectively provide support to people who have been bereaved or otherwise affected by suicide and who are at risk of suicide themselves.
• The Traumatic Incident Management service has been reviewed to improve the ways it assists schools that experience traumatic events, including suicides of students or staff.
• And there has been a large investment in research and evaluation so that we can learn more about the nature of suicide and how best to prevent it.
These are significant achievements and are just some of activities detailed in the report.
Many of the initiatives outlined in the report have components that are specifically designed to be responsive to Maori.
This is good progress, but there are still too many people dying by suicide in New Zealand, and so there is still more we need to do.
The report also highlights some areas where a greater focus is needed.
I believe the report provides the public with clear information about what is being done to prevent suicide in New Zealand.
I support a continued focus on suicide prevention and I will ensure we will continue to monitor the progress of the Action Plan so that we remain accountable for continued effort on preventing suicide.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Suicide Prevention Information New Zealand, and their partners Te Rau Matatini and Regional Public Health, for their hard work organising this symposium and bringing together knowledge and expertise so that we can tackle this problem together.
I trust you will enjoy the second day of the symposium.
Thank you.

ends.

Mark Stewart
Press Secretary to Hon Peter Dunne:
MP for Ohariu
Leader of UnitedFuture
Minister of Revenue
Associate Minister of Health

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