Suicide in Australia

"Australian Suicide" redirects here. For the wrestler, see Australian Suicide (wrestler).

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the age standardised death rate for suicide in Australia, for the year 2019, was 13.1 deaths per 100,000 people; preliminary estimates for years 2020 and 2021 are respectively 12.1 and 12.0. In 2020, 3,139 deaths were due to suicide (2,384 males and 755 females); in 2021, 3,144 deaths were due to suicide (2,358 males and 786 females).^[1]

The World Health Organization reported the 2019 age standardised suicide rate in Australia at 11.3 per 100,000 people per year.^[2]

Deaths from suicide occur among males at a rate three times greater than that for females: in 2019, the standardised suicide rate for males was 20.1 deaths per 100,000 people, while for females it was 6.3 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.^[1] The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports similar data.^[3]

Background information

In Australia, 48% of all suicides in 2000 were by 35 to 64-year-olds; an additional 13% were by 65 year olds and over.^[4] The suicide rates for children younger than 15 years is estimated to have increased by 92% between the 1960s to 1990s.^[5] Suicide rates are generally higher amongst males, rural and regional dwellers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.^[6] Suicide prevention researcher, Gerry Georgatos has found that suicide rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly in the Kimberley, Northern Territory and far north Queensland regions, are among the highest in the world. He describes the high rates as "a humanitarian crisis."^[7][8]

For a death to be considered a suicide and counted as such in Australian statistics, three criteria need to be met:

1. The death must be due to unnatural causes, such as injury, poisoning or suffocation rather than an illness
2. The actions which result in death must be self-inflicted
3. The person who injures himself or herself must have had the intention to die

(ResponseAbility, 2012)^[9]

A study suggest that 1-2% of the NSW population has contemplated suicide in 1992. This was estimated to be approximately 90 000 people out of a population of about 6 million.^[10]

Helplines

• Beyond Blue^[11]
• Lifeline Australia^[12]
• Menslink^[13]
• Suicide Prevention Australia^[14]

Risk factors

Gender

In every state and territory of Australia, suicide is much more common among males than females, with the ratio standing at 3:1 in 2012.^[15]

According to hospital data, females are more likely to deliberately injure themselves than males. In the 2008–2009 financial year, 62% of those who were hospitalised due to self-harm were female.^[16]

Researchers have attributed the difference between attempted and completed suicides among the sexes to males using more lethal means to end their lives.^[17]

Suicide rates for both males and females have generally decreased since the mid-90s with the overall suicide rate decreasing by 23% between 1999 and 2009. Suicide rates for males peaked in 1997 at 23.6 per 100,000 but have steadily decreased since then and stood at 14.9 per 100,000 in 2009. Female rates reached a high of 6.2 per 100 000 in 1997. Rates declined after that and was 4.5 per 100 000 in 2009.^[18] Comparing sex differences in suicide rates need to consider differences across the lifespan. Since 2003, for females, suicide rates range from 4 – 6 suicides per 100 000 with no apparent age association, whilst for men suicide rates range from 10 – 30 suicides per 100 000 with substantive differences across the lifespan; those males in middle and older age report substantially increased rates of suicide.^[19]

Urban–rural differences

Overall suicide rates for males and females in Australia differ little between rural and urban areas. However, rates for young men are distinctly higher than women in rural settings. There are a number of different factors that contribute to this. The easy accessibility to firearms, lower socio-economic lifestyle and increased level of social isolation, all add to the higher rate of male suicide in rural Australia.^[20][21]

Alcohol

There is a strong correlation between alcohol (as well as other drugs) and suicide in Australian young adults. Between 30 and 50% of suicides, detectable substances are found during post-mortem coronal investigations, with alcohol being the most common.^[22]

Age

The rate of suicide in Australian adolescents has gradually decreased, yet it still remains a prominent issue. Certain groups of young adults seem to be more at risk of potentially committing suicide. Youth of indigenous, rural or refugee backgrounds, as well as those in welfare, have been observed as having a higher rate of committing suicide. Young males tend to be more at risk than females.^[23]

Since 2003, age-standardised rates of suicide have been stable for females across the life course whilst for young adult men there have been declines of between 5 and 8 deaths per 100,000 but increases of between 4 and 7 deaths per 100,000 in middle-aged men.^[19] Middle and older-aged men continue to suicide at rates 4-6 times greater than females on average, and around at rates 2–3 times greater than teenage males.^[19]

Unemployment

Studies suggest that in men there is a high correlation between the number of suicides and the length of unemployment accompanied by a decrease in the national unemployment rates. The data also states that the longer the period of low employment the higher the rate of suicides in the age group of men between ages 25–34 and 55–64.^[24]

Statistics

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has kept data on suicide rates since 1981. The data collected by the ABS may underestimate the suicide rate, because people may kill themselves in such a manner that others mistake as an accidental death.^[25]: 1

Mitigation efforts

In 1992, the National Health and Medical Research's Working Group was founded to examine suicide prevention in Australia.^[26]

List of notable cases

20th century

• In 1952, politician James Vinton Smith died by suicide by firearm.^[27]
• In 1953, Nellie Cameron, a notorious Sydney prostitute in the 1920s and 1930s, died by suicide.^[28][29]
• In 1977, Pat Flower, an English Australian writer of plays, television plays and novels, died by suicide.^[30]
• In 1979, Christine Smith, an Australian alpine skier, died by suicide.^[31]
• In 1985, Mary Hardy, an Australian television and radio presenter, actress, writer and comedian, died by suicide.^[32]
• In 1987, Alex Carey, an Australian writer, author, social psychologist, academic and sociologist, died by suicide.^[33]
• On 3 March 1990, prominent Melbourne business man and property developer Floyd Podgornik shot himself in his inner-city apartment.^[34]
• In 1991, John Friedrich killed himself by firearm.^[35]
• In 1995, Steven Wood, an Australian sprint and marathon canoeist, died by suicide.^[36][37]
• In 1999, Ric Throssell, an Australian diplomat and author whose writings included novels, plays, film and television scripts, and memoirs, died by suicide.^[38]
• In 2000, Greg Wilton a Member of the House of Representatives committed suicide.

21st century

• In May 2005, Rene Rivkin, Australian investor and entrepreneur committed suicide.^[39]
• In October 2005, Paul Hester, an Australian musician and television personality, died by suicide, hanging himself in Elsternwick Park near his home.^[40]
• In November 2005, Sandy Blythe, an Australian wheelchair basketball player, died by suicide.^[41]
• In 2007, a member of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from Claremont in Tasmania, Kristy Corbett, was involved in a suicide case in which her former partner took his life. Corbett was investigated for her culpability but no charges were ever laid against her.^[42]
• In November 2007, Charmaine Dragun, an Australian television newsreader, jumped off The Gap, an oceanside cliff.^[43]
• In 2009, Alex Harris, an Australian Paralympic swimmer, who represented Australia at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, died by suicide.^[44]
• In 2014, Charlotte Dawson, an Australian TV presenter, died by suicide by hanging.^[45]
• In 2015, Mike Gibson, an Australian sports journalist, columnist, commentator, and radio and television presenter, died by suicide.^[46][47]
• In October 2016, Fergus David Edward Miller, known professionally as Bored Nothing, an Australian musician, died by suicide.^[48][49]
• In November 2016, Tyrone Unsworth, a 13-year-old Australian boy, died by suicide after years of bullying motivated by his homosexuality.^[50]
• In June 2017, Alice Eather, an Aboriginal Australian slam poet, environmental campaigner and teacher from Maningrida, died by suicide.^[51][52]
• In August 2017, Stephen Wooldridge, an Australian racing cyclist and an Olympic and four-time world champion on the track, died by suicide.^[53]
• In November 2017, Samantha Rebillet, a French-born Australian film director, actress, screenwriter, producer, singer and songwriter, died by suicide.^[54]
• In January 2018, Amy Jayne "Dolly" Everett, an Australian teenager who suffered from mental illness and who was a victim of cyberbullying, died by suicide.^[55]
• In April 2018, Shane Yarran, an Australian rules footballer, died by suicide.^[56]
• In November 2018, Jonathan Cantwell, an Australian professional road bicycle racer, died by suicide.^{[57][58][59][60]}
• In 2019, Annalise Braakensiek, an Australian model, actress, television presenter, businesswoman and campaign ambassador, was found dead in her Sydney apartment from apparent suicide.^[61]
• In 2020, Shane Tuck, an Australian rules footballer, died by suicide.^[62][63][64]
• In 2021, Dieter Brummer, an Australian actor, died by suicide.^[65]
• In 2022, Paul Green, an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a professional rugby league footballer, died by suicide.^[66]

See also

• Health care in Australia
• Health in Australia
• Mental health in Australia

Bibliography

• Sveticic, Jerneja (2009). Suicide research : selected readings. Queensland: Australian Academic Press. ISBN 9781922117182.

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics Causes of Death, Australia, 2021
2. "Suicide rates, age standardized – Data by country". World Health Organization. 2015. from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Suicide and intentional self-harm, 2022
4. Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, 2011, from the original on 10 March 2012
5. Trends and predictors of suicide in Australian children, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, 2011, from the original on 19 February 2012
6. Facts and Statistics, Mindframe National Media Initiative, 2012, archived from the original on 18 February 2013
7. "Nation shamed when child sees suicide as solution", The Australian, 7 November 2014
8. Indigenous suicide rates are a humanitarian crisis, NT News/AAP, 15 July 2015, from the original on 9 October 2015
9. "Adolescent suicide in Australia:Rates, risk and resilience". 2012. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
10. Sayer, Stewart & Chipps, Geoffrey, Gavin & Jennifer (June 1996). "Suicide attempts in NSW: Associated mortality and morbidity". NSW Public Health Bulletin.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
11. "Beyond Blue". beyondblue.org.au.
12. "Lifeline Australia – 13 11 14 – Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention". www.lifeline.org.au.
13. "Menslink". menslink.org.au.
14. "Home – Suicide Prevention Australia". suicidepreventionaust.org.
15. "Facts and Stats about suicide in Australia". 2014. from the original on 1 April 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
16. McKenna K & Harrison JE, Australian Institute of Health & Welfare (2012). Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia 2008-09 (Injury research and statistics series no. 65. Cat. no. INJCAT 141. ed.). Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-74249-341-1. from the original on 10 July 2017.
17. David Sue, Derald Wing Sue, Diane Sue, Stanley Sue (2013). Understanding abnormal behavior (Tenth ed., [student ed.] ed.). Belmont, California: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-111-83459-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
18. , Mindframe National Media Initiative, 2011, archived from the original on 28 July 2011
19. Burns, Richard A. (30 November 2016). "Sex and age trends in Australia's suicide rate over the last decade: Something is still seriously wrong with men in middle and late life". Psychiatry Research. 245: 224–229. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.08.036. ISSN 1872-7123. PMID 27552673. S2CID 4907253.
20. Alston, Margaret (2012). "Rural male suicide in Australia". Social Science & Medicine. 74 (4): 515–522. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.04.036. PMID 20541304.
21. Qi, Xin (2012). "Spatial clusters of suicide in Australia". BMC Psychiatry. 12: 86. doi:10.1186/1471-244X-12-86. PMC 3464902. PMID 22824367.
22. Topp, Libby (2011). "Suicide in Australia: Where do alcohol and drugs fit in?". Of Substance. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
23. McNamara, Patricia (2012). "Adolescent suicide in Australia: Rates, risks and resilience". Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 18 (3): 351–369. doi:10.1177/1359104512455812. PMID 23118313. S2CID 30612970. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
24. Milner, Page & LaMontagne, Alison, Andrew & Anthony (23 October 2012). "Duration of unemployment and suicide in Australia of the period 1985-2006: An ecological investigation by sex and age during declining national unemployment rates". Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 6 (2): 151. doi:10.1017/S1474746406003423. S2CID 146207424. from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
25. Madden, Richard (1994). "Suicides, Australia: 1982-1992" (PDF). Australian Bureau of Statistics. (PDF) from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
26. "3309.0 Suicides, Australia (1921 to 1998)" (PDF). Australian Bureau of Statistics. (PDF) from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
27. "VINTON SMITH FOUND DEAD". The Argus. Melbourne. 23 July 1952. p. 5. from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
28. Morton and Lobez, (Victory Books, 2010):135–136.
29. NSW BDM, Ellen Catherine Bourke, Death Reg No. 25162/1953, District of Sydney
30. Susan Lever, 'Flower, Patricia Mary Bryson (1914–1977)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/flower-patricia-mary-bryson-10207/text18039, published first in hardcopy 1996, accessed online 3 April 2015.
31. Smith, Christine Idris (1946–1979) at the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
32. McFarlane, Brian (2007). Hardy, Mary Veronica (1931–1985). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 26 November 2021. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
33. Gabrielle Carey, In My Father's House, Pan Macmillan Australia, 1992.
34. "'TYCOON' WHAT DEMONS DROVE HIM? - the Washington Post". The Washington Post. from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
35. "Twenty years on". www.abc.net.au. 6 April 2009. from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
36. Frith, David (2001). Silence of the Heart – Cricket Suicides. Edinburgh, Scotland: Mainstream Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 184018406X.
37. "Steve Wood". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
38. Lundy, Kate (21 April 1999), "Adjournment-Throssell, Mr. Ric", Hansard, Parliament of Australia, p. 4080, retrieved 24 April 2020, This week a great Australian, Ric Throssell, passed away in very sad circumstances along with his dear wife
39. "Sad end for Rene Rivkin". 2 May 2005.
40. Ellingsen, Peter (3 April 2005). "Something so wrong". The Age. John Fairfax Holdings. ISSN 0312-6307. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
41. Petrie, Andrea (25 November 2005). "Farewell to a champion athlete for whom life had lost its crucial blithe spirit". The Age. p. 8. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
42. Sveticic 2009, p. 108
43. "News reader found dead". The Australian. 2 November 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
44. . Geelong Advertiser. 28 October 2009. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
45. "Australian TV personality Charlotte Dawson commits suicide". fox411. 23 February 2014. from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
46. "Legendary sports commentator and journalist Mike Gibson dies aged 75". Perth Now. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
47. "Gibson killed himself". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). 25 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
48. "Music News". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
49. Mack, Emmy (12 October 2016). "Beloved Aussie Muso Fergus Miller Bored Nothing Passed Away". MusicFeeds. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
50. Sainty, Lane (25 November 2016). ""This Is Why We Need To Defend Safe Schools": LGBTI Community Responds To Gay Teen's Suicide". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
51. "Vale Alice Eather: Aboriginal poet, teacher and warrior". 24 June 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
52. Petersen, Freya (18 September 2017). "Alice Eather: Anti-fracking activist's 'black dog' never left her, family says". ABC. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
53. "Olympic cycling champion Stephen Wooldridge dies". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
54. ""I Could Hardly Breathe": Former Potbelleez Frontman Ilan Kidron on the Death of His Wife". The Latch. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
55. Stephens, Clare (31 January 2018). "The part of Dolly Everett's story that perhaps wasn't told". Mamamia. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
56. Elborough, Brad (21 April 2018). "Dockers put horror week behind them to thump Western Bulldogs". The Age. from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
57. Ballinge, Alex (7 November 2018). "Australian former pro Jonathan Cantwell dies at 36". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
58. "Cycling news - Australian champion Jonathan Cantwell dies at age of 36". Eurosport. 7 November 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
59. Fundraiser for family set up after death of Jonathan Cantwell
60. "Former national cycling champion dies". NewsComAu. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
61. Hoyer, Melissa (7 January 2019). "Annalise Braakensiek found dead in Sydney Potts Point apartment". News.com.au. from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
62. "Is Australia honest about suicide?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 24 July 2020. 0:20. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
63. "Vale Shane Tuck". Richmond FC. Richmond Football Club. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
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66. "Paul Green's cause of sudden death confirmed". news.com.au. 11 August 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.

External links

• Australian Bureau of Statistics Suicides, Australia, 2005
• Australian Bureau of Statistics Causes of Death, Australia, 2021
• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Suicide and intentional self-harm, 2022