Aboriginal children and young people represent 28 per cent of all recorded suicide deaths of children and young people, despite comprising only 3 per cent of Australia’s population.
This overrepresentation is even more alarming among children aged 13 years and under. The suicide rates of Aboriginal people in certain areas of Western Australian are some of the highest in the world.
Among the Message Stick Inquiry report's key findings were:
- that there was little evidence demonstrating that government was meaningfully consulting or partnering with Aboriginal communities
- that no one organisation or agency takes ownership, nor leads the response or is accountable for government action, to improve the wellbeing of Aboriginal people.
Read the full report of the 2016 Message Stick Inquiry in the document below.
