WA Mental Health Minister Helen Morton has announced she will meet personally with representatives from Gay and Lesbian Community Services soon about the progress of the suicide prevention plan for the LGBT community.
In Parliament last week, Morton said the administrative costs for the first two proposals from GLCS had been too high and said administrative costs made up ‘more than 75 per cent of the total cost of the strategy, which is not acceptable in my view’.
In Parliament, Greens’ MLC Lynn MacLaren said she would like to see this strategy produce a proactive approach that helped reduce the rates of youth suicide. She said there were very few services that could cope with the complex issues involving a young person who was coming out and that the strategy was an opportunity to address it.
Last month, OUTinPerth revealed two proposals for the specific plan for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community had already been knocked back. The Barnett Government allocated $13 million to the roll-out of the Suicide Prevention Strategy over four years following the 2008 state election.
The LGBT community is one of 50 communities in Western Australia that the strategy plans to address. In the Western Australian Suicide Prevention Strategy 2009-2013, it listed same-sex attracted youth and transgender youth as a high-risk group.
Shadow Mental Health Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich and Greens’ Mental Health spokesperson Alison Xamon both raised concerns over the delay in the strategy’s roll-out. The Mental Health Minister said she would personally meet with representatives from GLCS to bring the proposal into line with types of proposals the government was looking to fund.
Gay and Lesbian Community Services Chairperson Nadine Toussaint said she was looking forward to meeting the minister to talk further about the strategy.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Salvo Care Line on 1300 363 622.
Benn Dorrington
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