❓ A WA parliamentary question regarding regional suicide rates is met with a refusal to provide specific figures due to sensitivity and confidentiality concerns, as well as data collection challenges. The Minister offers a confidential briefing instead.
AnsweredQoN 152Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
SUICIDE RATES — REGIONAL AREAS
How many suspected suicides have been recorded in the past three months in each of the following regions: Gascoyne, Goldfields–Esperance, Great Southern, Kimberley, Mid West, Peel, Pilbara, South West and Wheatbelt? Hon HELEN MORTON
How many suspected suicides have been recorded in the past three months in each of the following regions: Gascoyne, Goldfields–Esperance, Great Southern, Kimberley, Mid West, Peel, Pilbara, South West and Wheatbelt? Hon HELEN MORTON
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. I notice that this is a similar question to the one that she asked previously. Now that she has inserted the words “suspected suicides”, it makes it a little easier to give her a more definitive answer, although she is still not going to get the answer that I think she is looking for. For those members who are unaware, providing information about suicides is still subject to a coronial investigation. That sort of information is not available until about two years after the event. We are provided with coronial information as a means of getting trends and information around suicides. With respect to suspected suicide, the information is gathered from a number of different sources. For example, we gather information from the police and the Department of Health. For every person who suicides, another 15 to 20 people are admitted to hospital with a severe injury from their attempted suicide. That sort of information is available on the hospital morbidity system. Attempted suicides in that category are quite serious. We also get information from community sources. Getting that information together from all the different places so that we can provide a definitive answer—that is, a number—is quite difficult in the time that Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich has requested this information, like in a couple of hours. I will not provide the information for that reason but there is another reason why this information is not appropriate to provide. The member asked for information relating to the past three months. If one person was suspected of having committed suicide in, say, the Albany area, and I was to say that one person from Albany committed suicide, that would be highly identifiable to that person. For the issues of confidentiality and sensitivity, it would be inappropriate for me to stand and say that there had been one in the Mid West or three in the Pilbara or two in the Gascoyne et cetera, because they are suspected suicides. I just want to make this point a little further because I really do want Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich to understand the sensitivities around this matter. The reason that suspected suicide statistics are gathered in this way and kept in a very sensitive way is to protect those sensitivities and to protect the confidentiality of the people concerned. Given that the member has asked for information over only three months and asked for it by region—all country regions, not the metropolitan region—and that the information needs to be gathered in the way it is, it is not appropriate to be provided in this manner. If the member wants to put this on record and ask the question in a slightly different manner, or if she would like a confidential briefing on the matter, I would be happy to provide that, but at this stage, under the circumstances, I think that to provide that information in the manner in which it has been asked for is not appropriate.
Hon HELEN MORTON replied: I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. I notice that this is a similar question to the one that she asked previously. Now that she has inserted the words “suspected suicides”, it makes it a little easier to give her a more definitive answer, although she is still not going to get the answer that I think she is looking for. For those members who are unaware, providing information about suicides is still subject to a coronial investigation. That sort of information is not available until about two years after the event. We are provided with coronial information as a means of getting trends and information around suicides. With respect to suspected suicide, the information is gathered from a number of different sources. For example, we gather information from the police and the Department of Health. For every person who suicides, another 15 to 20 people are admitted to hospital with a severe injury from their attempted suicide. That sort of information is available on the hospital morbidity system. Attempted suicides in that category are quite serious. We also get information from community sources. Getting that information together from all the different places so that we can provide a definitive answer—that is, a number—is quite difficult in the time that Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich has requested this information, like in a couple of hours. I will not provide the information for that reason but there is another reason why this information is not appropriate to provide. The member asked for information relating to the past three months. If one person was suspected of having committed suicide in, say, the Albany area, and I was to say that one person from Albany committed suicide, that would be highly identifiable to that person. For the issues of confidentiality and sensitivity, it would be inappropriate for me to stand and say that there had been one in the Mid West or three in the Pilbara or two in the Gascoyne et cetera, because they are suspected suicides. I just want to make this point a little further because I really do want Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich to understand the sensitivities around this matter. The reason that suspected suicide statistics are gathered in this way and kept in a very sensitive way is to protect those sensitivities and to protect the confidentiality of the people concerned. Given that the member has asked for information over only three months and asked for it by region—all country regions, not the metropolitan region—and that the information needs to be gathered in the way it is, it is not appropriate to be provided in this manner. If the member wants to put this on record and ask the question in a slightly different manner, or if she would like a confidential briefing on the matter, I would be happy to provide that, but at this stage, under the circumstances, I think that to provide that information in the manner in which it has been asked for is not appropriate.
I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. I notice that this is a similar question to the one that she asked previously. Now that she has inserted the words “suspected suicides”, it makes it a little easier to give her a more definitive answer, although she is still not going to get the answer that I think she is looking for. For those members who are unaware, providing information about suicides is still subject to a coronial investigation. That sort of information is not available until about two years after the event. We are provided with coronial information as a means of getting trends and information around suicides. With respect to suspected suicide, the information is gathered from a number of different sources. For example, we gather information from the police and the Department of Health. For every person who suicides, another 15 to 20 people are admitted to hospital with a severe injury from their attempted suicide. That sort of information is available on the hospital morbidity system. Attempted suicides in that category are quite serious. We also get information from community sources. Getting that information together from all the different places so that we can provide a definitive answer—that is, a number—is quite difficult in the time that Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich has requested this information, like in a couple of hours. I will not provide the information for that reason but there is another reason why this information is not appropriate to provide. The member asked for information relating to the past three months. If one person was suspected of having committed suicide in, say, the Albany area, and I was to say that one person from Albany committed suicide, that would be highly identifiable to that person. For the issues of confidentiality and sensitivity, it would be inappropriate for me to stand and say that there had been one in the Mid West or three in the Pilbara or two in the Gascoyne et cetera, because they are suspected suicides. I just want to make this point a little further because I really do want Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich to understand the sensitivities around this matter. The reason that suspected suicide statistics are gathered in this way and kept in a very sensitive way is to protect those sensitivities and to protect the confidentiality of the people concerned. Given that the member has asked for information over only three months and asked for it by region—all country regions, not the metropolitan region—and that the information needs to be gathered in the way it is, it is not appropriate to be provided in this manner. If the member wants to put this on record and ask the question in a slightly different manner, or if she would like a confidential briefing on the matter, I would be happy to provide that, but at this stage, under the circumstances, I think that to provide that information in the manner in which it has been asked for is not appropriate.
I just want to make this point a little further because I really do want Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich to understand the sensitivities around this matter. The reason that suspected suicide statistics are gathered in this way and kept in a very sensitive way is to protect those sensitivities and to protect the confidentiality of the people concerned. Given that the member has asked for information over only three months and asked for it by region—all country regions, not the metropolitan region—and that the information needs to be gathered in the way it is, it is not appropriate to be provided in this manner. If the member wants to put this on record and ask the question in a slightly different manner, or if she would like a confidential briefing on the matter, I would be happy to provide that, but at this stage, under the circumstances, I think that to provide that information in the manner in which it has been asked for is not appropriate.
Hon HELEN MORTON replied: I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. I notice that this is a similar question to the one that she asked previously. Now that she has inserted the words “suspected suicides”, it makes it a little easier to give her a more definitive answer, although she is still not going to get the answer that I think she is looking for. For those members who are unaware, providing information about suicides is still subject to a coronial investigation. That sort of information is not available until about two years after the event. We are provided with coronial information as a means of getting trends and information around suicides. With respect to suspected suicide, the information is gathered from a number of different sources. For example, we gather information from the police and the Department of Health. For every person who suicides, another 15 to 20 people are admitted to hospital with a severe injury from their attempted suicide. That sort of information is available on the hospital morbidity system. Attempted suicides in that category are quite serious. We also get information from community sources. Getting that information together from all the different places so that we can provide a definitive answer—that is, a number—is quite difficult in the time that Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich has requested this information, like in a couple of hours. I will not provide the information for that reason but there is another reason why this information is not appropriate to provide. The member asked for information relating to the past three months. If one person was suspected of having committed suicide in, say, the Albany area, and I was to say that one person from Albany committed suicide, that would be highly identifiable to that person. For the issues of confidentiality and sensitivity, it would be inappropriate for me to stand and say that there had been one in the Mid West or three in the Pilbara or two in the Gascoyne et cetera, because they are suspected suicides. I just want to make this point a little further because I really do want Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich to understand the sensitivities around this matter. The reason that suspected suicide statistics are gathered in this way and kept in a very sensitive way is to protect those sensitivities and to protect the confidentiality of the people concerned. Given that the member has asked for information over only three months and asked for it by region—all country regions, not the metropolitan region—and that the information needs to be gathered in the way it is, it is not appropriate to be provided in this manner. If the member wants to put this on record and ask the question in a slightly different manner, or if she would like a confidential briefing on the matter, I would be happy to provide that, but at this stage, under the circumstances, I think that to provide that information in the manner in which it has been asked for is not appropriate.
I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. I notice that this is a similar question to the one that she asked previously. Now that she has inserted the words “suspected suicides”, it makes it a little easier to give her a more definitive answer, although she is still not going to get the answer that I think she is looking for. For those members who are unaware, providing information about suicides is still subject to a coronial investigation. That sort of information is not available until about two years after the event. We are provided with coronial information as a means of getting trends and information around suicides. With respect to suspected suicide, the information is gathered from a number of different sources. For example, we gather information from the police and the Department of Health. For every person who suicides, another 15 to 20 people are admitted to hospital with a severe injury from their attempted suicide. That sort of information is available on the hospital morbidity system. Attempted suicides in that category are quite serious. We also get information from community sources. Getting that information together from all the different places so that we can provide a definitive answer—that is, a number—is quite difficult in the time that Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich has requested this information, like in a couple of hours. I will not provide the information for that reason but there is another reason why this information is not appropriate to provide. The member asked for information relating to the past three months. If one person was suspected of having committed suicide in, say, the Albany area, and I was to say that one person from Albany committed suicide, that would be highly identifiable to that person. For the issues of confidentiality and sensitivity, it would be inappropriate for me to stand and say that there had been one in the Mid West or three in the Pilbara or two in the Gascoyne et cetera, because they are suspected suicides. I just want to make this point a little further because I really do want Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich to understand the sensitivities around this matter. The reason that suspected suicide statistics are gathered in this way and kept in a very sensitive way is to protect those sensitivities and to protect the confidentiality of the people concerned. Given that the member has asked for information over only three months and asked for it by region—all country regions, not the metropolitan region—and that the information needs to be gathered in the way it is, it is not appropriate to be provided in this manner. If the member wants to put this on record and ask the question in a slightly different manner, or if she would like a confidential briefing on the matter, I would be happy to provide that, but at this stage, under the circumstances, I think that to provide that information in the manner in which it has been asked for is not appropriate.
I just want to make this point a little further because I really do want Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich to understand the sensitivities around this matter. The reason that suspected suicide statistics are gathered in this way and kept in a very sensitive way is to protect those sensitivities and to protect the confidentiality of the people concerned. Given that the member has asked for information over only three months and asked for it by region—all country regions, not the metropolitan region—and that the information needs to be gathered in the way it is, it is not appropriate to be provided in this manner. If the member wants to put this on record and ask the question in a slightly different manner, or if she would like a confidential briefing on the matter, I would be happy to provide that, but at this stage, under the circumstances, I think that to provide that information in the manner in which it has been asked for is not appropriate.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.