Councillors agreed on Monday, August 14 that council make a submission to the inquiry and push to have an inquiry hearing in Lithgow.

The statewide investigation will examine the current approaches to preventing youth suicide in New South Wales.

“Too many of us know, or know of, a young person who has taken their own life,” said Committee on Children and Young People chairperson and Holsworthy MP Melanie Gibbons.

“The suicide of a young person has a huge and lasting impact on friends, families, schools, and entire communities.

“We want to better understand the ways in which this important issue is being tackled, including what is being done well, and what could be improved.

“We’ll be looking at the efforts of government, service providers and schools to prevent the suicide of our young people. We’ll also examine the services available on the ground in local communities, especially regional and rural areas.”

Lithgow councillors were given a look at council’s draft submission which was to be supplemented with input from councillors and members of the Mayor’s Mental Health Taskforce.

The draft submission emphasised how the local community had been “deeply affected in recent times by the tragic suicide of a growing number of local people, and young people in particular... but unsure of how to best respond.”

“This is a matter for government to show leadership, offer help, resources and funding,” the submission said.

Lithgow Council’s report also included alarming statistics regarding self-harm in Lithgow, a problem that could point to higher rates of suicide.

According to figures from NSW Health women in Lithgow intentionally self-harm at a rate of over 300 per 100,000 population, more than double the NSW average.

Lithgow men intentionally self-harm at a rate of over 150 per 100,000 population, which is 50% higher than the NSW average.

“Lithgow City Council is committed to working in partnership with other agencies in building community resilience and response to the current crisis in mental health services and levels of suicide,” the submission said.

“Council can’t do this however without the dedicated and ongoing commitment of the State Government.

“Council further believes that the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry would benefit from a first-hand look at what is happening in regional areas and therefore invites the inquiry to hold a hearing in Lithgow.”

The Lithgow community has been urged to make their own submissions to the inquiry by the closing date on Thursday, August 31.

For the purpose of this inquiry a young person is someone between the ages of 12 and 25.

Submissions are to be forwarded to Parliament of New South Wales, Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000 or by email to childrenyoungpeople@parliament.nsw.gov.au.

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