Wednesday 24 May 8am
Suicide prevention group to speak at parliament

Life Matters will share tragic stories of families affected by suicide at select committee today.

The suicide prevention trust will speak at a public hearing from 12.35 pm to 12.55 pm at Room 4, Parliament House.

Trustee Corinda Taylor helped create the Otago group due to the lack of support after her 20-year-old son Ross died by suicide in 2013.

Mrs Taylor will be available for comment at the Wellington Cenotaph from 1.10pm.

She will speak in front of 200 life-sized cut-outs of health workers missing due to underfunding.

Taylor says mental health needs more funding and an urgent independent review as a first step towards a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

“When unwell Kiwis reach out for help and are turned away from services, the outcome can be deadly,” she says. “We want those most affected by our mental health crisis to be on politicians minds before tomorrow’s budget.”

Taylor says she wants to know if politicians would be comfortable sending their loved ones to our underfunded mental health services.

“How would they feel if it was their suicidal child that was turned away due to lack of bed space or because they weren’t deemed to be serious enough?”

She says a new UMR/PSA poll released today showing only one in ten think the Government is doing enough about mental health isn’t surprising.

Taylor says mental health funding should be a moral and not a political issue.

“There is no political capital to be gained by any party in this tragic matter,” she says.

The select committee hearing follows a petition delivered by Mrs Taylor to Maori Party MP Marama Fox on 8 November 2016.

ENDS

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