New Health Minister David Clark has levelled a stinging accusation at the previous government and his predecessor Jonathan Coleman, saying funding and priority shortfalls led to more victims of suicide.
Dr Clark made the comments during an interview with The New Zealand Herald as part of its Break The Silence campaign on youth suicide.
The interview charted the new Government’s hopes for greater suicide prevention and a pledge more would be done to save the lives of those contemplating taking their own.
New Zealand’s teen suicide statistics are the worst in the developed world and we have the second-greatest number of self-inflicted deaths among those aged 25 and under.
The latest suicide statistics have the highest number of suicides on record — 606 people took their lives in the year to June. And the figures were little better measured against an increasing population.
Dr Clark was critical of Dr Coleman and the previous government, saying officials were "frustrated" over the failure to develop a new suicide prevention strategy after the previous one expired a year ago. He also criticised Dr Coleman for failing to match an increase in people seeking mental health support with funding.
Asked if that cost lives, Dr Clark initially said it was "very hard on an individual level to say that somebody died because of a lack of funding".
He then said: "The proposition you’ve put is one that seems reasonable to me, that if you don’t support people, more people are going to take their own lives. I don’t think we can deny that."
The Labour Party campaigned on mental health and pledged the return of the mental health commissioner and an inquiry into mental health.
Terms of reference and other details around the inquiry were yet to be settled, Dr Clark said, but he forecast it would be wide-ranging, and consider issues of colonisation and poverty.
He spoke of "hardship, or the after-effects of colonisation, or trauma in their own lives or personal histories".
Past practices of shutting down debate on suicide did not deal with an issue that was persistent, Dr Clark said.
"I think we need a public conversation about this. We can’t avoid it as a country. We have a problem and we need to talk about it."
But he also challenged media to tell stories of survival and recovery.
He had personal experiences of suicide in his family, and among those he knew and had encountered cases through his work as a Presbyterian minister and Youthline counsellor.
But he said those experiences would not be unusual for any New Zealander, as everyone was probably able to relate their own personal story of suicide affecting those in their lives.Dr Coleman would not be interviewed on the comments.
Through a spokeswoman, he said: "Dr Clark has made it clear for some months that he believes the minister of health is accountable for New Zealand’s suicide rate. It’s now up to him to set targets and to meet them."
- By David Fisher
Need help?
Healthline: 0800 611-116
Lifeline Aotearoa: 0800 543-354
Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828-865
General mental health inquiries: 0800 443-366
The Depression Helpline: 0800 111-757
Youthline: 0800 376-633, txt 234, or talk@youthline.co.nz
What’s Up (for 5 to 18-year-olds; 1pm-11pm): 0800 942-87872
