Why Isn’t Suicide Prevention a National Priority?

In August 2025, Suicide Prevention Australia responded to an inquiry into men’s suicide rates in the ACT. The findings outlined eight key government recommendations to reduce male suicide. The key proposals were grounded in evidence, urgency, and a call for systemic reform.

Suicide is not just a symptom of mental illness. It’s a complex, multi-factorial human behaviour. National data shows that more than a quarter of people who experience suicidal thoughts or behaviours, have no diagnosed mental illness [1]. Even among those who do, mental illness may not be the primary driver. [T]ragically, only half of those who die by suicide are accessing mental health services at the time [2].

Research into men’s suicide, reveals a cumulative effect of harms across multiple domains such as, relationship breakdowns, financial stress, workplace culture, substance use, environmental disasters, and domestic abuse [3]. To summarise, it’s not just a health issue: it’s a social, economic, and cultural crisis. Prevention requires a whole-of-government approach and one that reaches beyond the mental health system, into every portfolio that touches people’s lives [4].

In 2022, UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Issues Affecting Men & Boys, called for a “whole system” approach to male suicide prevention. Their report echoed what we already know: we cannot reduce suicide by looking through a narrow mental health lens. We must address the root causes — the silent pressures, the unspoken grief, the systemic failures [5].

Legislation is a critical lever. Suicide prevention must be written into law, with clear accountability across Treasury, Justice, Housing, Transport, and Health. We need funding and policy that reflect the socio-economic and environmental determinants of suicide. We need an Act that unites decision-makers across government in a shared mission to save lives [6].

So why then, in September 2025, was NSW the only State to pass a Suicide Prevention Bill 2025. The first of its kind in Australian history where suicide prevention is legislated. Why isn’t this a national mandate?

This bill is more than a milestone. It’s a world-leading model that makes every arm of government accountable for suicide prevention. It places prevention at the heart of decision-making. It’s the most significant reform in mental health that Australia has ever seen.

And yet, it remains isolated.

A singular light in a national landscape still dimmed by silence, fragmentation, and delay. While NSW has taken bold legislative steps, the rest of Australia watches without matching urgency. The Suicide Prevention Bill 2025 is not just policy — it’s a statutory commitment. It’s a commitment in action that every life matters, that prevention is not optional, and that accountability must be shared.

Suicide is not a state issue. It’s a national pandemic. A silent epidemic. A covered-up crisis that demands unified action.

We not only owe it to every man who thought he couldn’t keep going, but to every family shattered by loss, and to the children who no longer have their superhero by their side. We owe it to ourselves to do better. We can do better.

National implementation of a Suicide Prevention strategy is urgently required.

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[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2020-2022). National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing. ABS. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/national-study-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release 

[2] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025). Use of health services preceding suicide. In Suicide & self‑harm monitoring [Web article]. Retrieved July 29, 2025, from https://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/deaths-by-suicide-in-australia/healthservice-use-in-the-last-year-of-life

[3] Bennett, S., Glasgow, U., Zortea, T., Dickson, A., Richardson, C., & Glasgow, U. (2023). Male suicide risk and recovery factors: A systematic review and qualitative meta-synthesis of two decades of research. Psychological Bulletin, 149(7–8), 371–417. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000397

[4] Suicide Prevention Australia, Submission to the ACT Inquiry into Men’s Suicide Rates (August 2025).

[5] 9 All‑Party Parliamentary Group on Issues Affecting Men and Boys. (2022). Tackling male suicide: A ‘whole system’ approach [Report]. Retrieved from https://www.equi-law.uk/wp

[6] Ibid 4.