Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee [Part 2], , 3:29:08 to 3:31:56
Discussion regarding the Auditor-General's findings on the lack of a formal implementation plan for the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and the department's response.
Topics: Health, Integrity
Speakers: Gavin Matthews, Speaker 26, Senator Ellie Whiteaker
>> That we should be doing something about. Um we're spending money, but it's still too many. So, the National Suicide Prevention Strategy was launched in February 25. The auditor general reported that at a September 25 there was no implementation plan and the advisory group had not even been set up. The auditor general recommended you write a plan and the department agreed only in principle. Is there an implementation plan today?
>> Just a little bit of context about that as well. Senator just on the so I think we'd want to be careful that audit was about the department not um a broader you know policy decision-m of government in that audit. So in terms of the plan I think the when the department provided you know agreed in part in that was largely because it is not of the department's own making that it can do and agree a full implementation plan that would cut across many port pretty much all portfolios across government or indeed uh state and territory governments because that that strategy is a is very much a whole of nation strategy and has actions for pretty much all Commonwealth portfolios but also states and territories as well. So it is not within the department's remmit to do an implementation plan that would be agreed by all of those jurisdictions. That is a matter ultimately for government and governments to consider. So that is that was the basis of agreeing that recommendation and putting those caveats on it. The development of implementation plan is will be something that we have been and I think which we have discussed in a couple of committees um probably not with yourself but um would be there is a range of work that the national suicide prevention office is doing around its outcomes framework that we think uh is kind of like some necessary pieces of work that will help us inform that and is also doing a piece of work to look at effectively almost a baseline of what actions what is happening against the um the actions in the strategy at the moment and start to sort of recommend where they think areas of focus are and that will basically inform I think where government goes on down that journey.
>> So is there an implementation plan? not
this well I mean no but that does not mean that there isn't action that we are also doing and that implement that strategy has uh has was already been used to influence uh things that the government is doing um and also is influencing the thinking that we discussed before around the new national agreement and there are range of things that governments are do that get are informed by those broader strategies the strategy also cuts across a lot of the you know other economic and social indicators that the government you know considers when it takes action more broadly which is the point of doing a stock take and getting a baseline from the national suicide prevention office who are here today as well if you have
>> So
>> one more question before I have to