Mike King has stepped down from his post on New Zealand's suicide prevention panel, claiming the Government's recently released draft plan to prevent suicide is "deeply flawed" and self-serving.
King, a comedian, television presenter and crusader against suicide, has been a member of the New Zealand Suicide Prevention External Advisory Panel since 2015, established to help shape a strategy to reduce suicide over the next 10 years.
In a letter to Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman, King resigned from the panel saying he was growing "increasingly concerned" about the Draft Suicide Prevention Plan which was released to the public last month.
"The plan has buried all new ideas in such impenetrable language they are beyond recognition and unlikely to ever see the light of day.
"It is a strategy that is so broad in its effort to please everyone it will eventually collapse under the weight of public expectation. This will please no one except you and the politicians you serve," King wrote.
"It would be funny if people weren't dying."
King said the draft plan ignores recommendations from the panel, continued to fund "failed experiments", was an almost word-for-word repeat of the last strategy and would further isolate vulnerable Kiwis.
He went on to say statements made in the draft plan read like a political broadcast and were "so broad and vanilla they can mean everything and nothing at exactly the same time".
The panel had agreed there was a need for the Government to set an actual percentage target to try and reduce suicide by 20% over 10 years, but this target was ignored by officials and removed from the final draft plan.
"What happened to that [target]?" King asked. "Have we returned to the defeatist attitude that some degree of suicide is acceptable, inevitable or both?"
Every year around 540 people die by suicide in New Zealand.
King's resignation comes amid growing calls for an independent inquiry into the state of New Zealand's mental health sector.
The New Zealand Herald has sought comment from Dr Coleman and the Ministry of Health.
Where to get help
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youthline: 0800 376 633
• Kidsline: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
• Whatsup: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)
• Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (available 24/7)
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• Samaritans 0800 726 666
• If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
