What mechanisms enable whole-of-government action on suicide prevention in Australia? A policy review

A mental health lens has historically been used to describe suicide and its prevention, however increasing research evidence and policy advice indicates that collaboration between multiple government agencies, service sectors and communities would more appropriately address the underlying drivers of distress. This has contributed to growing support internationally for a whole-of-government approach to suicide prevention, but there are varied descriptions of how this is applied.

This paper identifies mechanisms for whole-of-government action, as written into Australian suicide prevention policies and provides a narrative review of existing governance structures and potential future actions.

Nineteen suicide prevention policy documents were identified via an online search of government and other websites. Document analysis was used to assess whole-of-government arrangements between levels of government (vertical), across government portfolios (horizontal), and between departments at different levels of government (mixed).

All nine Australian jurisdictions had between one and four policy documents guiding suicide prevention. While extracts referencing whole-of-government mechanisms were relatively sparse (N = 91), all documents included examples of one or more whole-of-government mechanisms (horizontal = 34%, vertical = 25% and mixed = 41%). The most common mechanism function was joint oversight and collaboration, with joint funding arrangements, policy linkages, formal agreements, and legislation less common.

Despite variations across jurisdictions, there is evidence that contemporary Australian suicide prevention policies include arrangements to facilitate whole-of-government action. However, strengthened arrangements between governments and across portfolios are needed to advance suicide prevention as a whole-of-government priority.