Advocates argue that deaths related to robodebt could have been prevented if policies had been tailored to suicide risks

Suicide prevention advocates are urging the government to pass a federal law requiring all draft policies to be assessed for suicidal ideation risk, a measure they say could have prevented the Morrison government’s robodebt scandal from happening.

Suicide Prevention Australia CEO Nieves Murray said national legislation was the missing piece in the draft national suicide prevention strategy published by the government on Tuesday as an “advisory note” to mark World Suicide Prevention Day.

“The strategy provides a blueprint, but what would cement this for our country is the implementation of a suicide prevention law,” Murray said, pointing to a similar move in South Australia.

“By having a suicide prevention law at the federal level, we will see that this issue of suicide prevention is understood as a government-wide approach that is codified in law so that it cannot change when there is a change of government. It is very difficult to undo that.”

Murray said robodebt is an example of how a regulatory audit “could have changed the trajectory for a number of people who committed suicide as a result.”

“If we had had a suicide prevention law before that program was implemented, the right safety measures would have been put in place – or the way it was implemented would have been changed – and we would have saved lives.”

Murray criticised the government’s decision to publish the draft strategy as ‘advice’, rather than committing to it as a strategy, despite extensive consultation.

The draft strategy says that tackling the social factors that contribute to suicide – such as loneliness, child abuse and financial stress – is crucial to prevention. Such stressors can lead to people feeling “trapped in their circumstances” and people need to feel they can live a meaningful life, with hope for the future, it continues.

Any suicide prevention strategy “must do more than just support people who are experiencing suicidal thoughts – it must also reduce the likelihood that people experience suicidal thoughts in the first place,” the report said.

Experiences of child abuse and neglect, alcohol and drug-related harm, and intimate partner violence against women were associated with almost half (48%) of suicides and self-inflicted injuries in 2019. These socioeconomic factors and related stressors known to increase suicide risk should be addressed, the draft said.

“Similarly, economic insecurity, social exclusion and loneliness, chronic pain and family separation or bereavement were associated with an increased risk of suicide,” the report said.

“By reducing the impact of such stressors, we can prevent people from experiencing suicidal thoughts, by reducing their sense of being trapped by circumstances, and by promoting a sense of self-responsibility and hope for the future.”

The strategy is based on people who have personal experience with depression and suicide.

Anna Bernasochi, director of suicide prevention at LGBTQ+ advocacy group Switchboard Victoria, said recent public debate over census questions on sexuality and gender had further highlighted the risk of suicide in those communities.

“Issues like the census data distract us from the issues that deeply affect our communities,” Bernasochi said. “Far too many LGBTIQ+ people are affected by suicide and there is not enough commitment and action.”

Suicide is the leading cause of death among younger Australians, accounting for more than a third of deaths among 15 to 24 year olds in 2022. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more than twice as likely to die by suicide than the non-Indigenous population.

The draft strategy will be published as a medical journal The Lancet published a series of six articles on Wednesday a call for governments to more comprehensively address the impact of poverty, debt, addiction, homelessness, abuse, discrimination and social isolation on a person’s decision to consider suicide.

“Clinical treatment services are critical for people in suicidal crisis, but upstream measures that address social factors must also be incorporated into national suicide prevention strategies to prevent people from reaching crisis point,” an introduction to the series states.

Prof Jane Pirkis, Director of the Centre for Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, was the author of one of the articles and said: “Addressing these more upstream factors is likely to lead to significant reductions in suicide rates.”

The public has until October 27 give feedback on the government’s draft strategy.