Are you listening to the same podcasts I am Atman? For those interested in suicide, this Freakonomics podcast from 2 years ago is a gold mine. They also give you a lot of information on their website so you can get a good flavour without having to invest an hour in listening. http://freakonomics.com/2011/08/31/new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-the-suicide-paradox/

As this argument about stats rages keep in mind that anything can be proven using stats. It's all about the questions that are asked and the way you work the data!

Lyn is a professional in a caring industry yet she is being attacked by mindless ignoramuses who can't even spell 'Sighcollergee' let alone have any idea of what it is all about.

Given that most Australians will, at some time in their lives, have a mental problem, the braying ignoramuses may have to eat their words one day!

Lyn is a professional in a caring industry
David G,
I have worked alongside such people & if my experience with some of them is anything to go by I think they're more of a danger than a help. I would not be at all surprised if some suicides weren't directly attributable to such professionals filling some desperate's mind with even more problems. I listened to three of them talking to patients & I had to force myself from grabbing these professionals & kick them out of the room. Talk about fruitcakes, Gawd !

Graham

Yes, I am looking at the same graphs as you are. I was refuting Atman’s claim that suicides went down during the Howard era. They didn’t. They went significantly up at first and then down again.

As a general comment to others on this thread, my real concern here is that the comprehensive academic studies undertaken by research teams in Australia and the UK, published earlier this year and linked in the essay, are being pushed aside in favour of raw data from the ABS and other number-crunching bodies, which take no account of context or long-term trends. Both studies have found overall causal links between conservative political policies and ‘excess’ suicide rates over the last century.

We are entering a political phase in Australian history, in which the GFC is finally catching up with us and a government has been elected that has shown open hostility to social spending and social safety nets, dismissing them as a culture of ‘entitlement’. This conservative political philosophy is nothing new. However, it has been getting progressively more entrenched within Australian culture along with most Western countries on the back of a sympathetically conservative media culture.

I don’t know how it will play out over time, but anyone who is old, emotionally vulnerable, disabled, poor and unemployed will have very little say in this brave new anti-‘entitlement’ political environment, in which they will most likely be its long-term victims.

I think I understand? Tony Abbott is already killing people after only two weeks in the job, wow! The author is busily saving lives however, well done!
The "Not for Profit" sector is so that the author pays half or no tax unlike us ordinary punters. That dodge was put in specifically by Socialist millionaire Paul Keating so that failed left wing pollies can get their big fat pensions and also a "Fringe Benefit" like a house to ensure they do not pay tax.
Gee I am feeling suicidal now.

Plantagenet, my apologies.
Have gone through ABS and Department of Health and Aging without finding that page again...[plain black/white, about half page box... crosswise, years 2001--2112, lengthwise, state and national stats. for suicide deaths.] 2007, 2008, 2009 are the 'finalised' years. The stats. for these total 11,656 deaths by suicide, averaging 3,885/year. These are higher than normal figures. ABS has, for many years, based stats. on our 2001 population, 18,972,350. ABS may now be using present populations, as I've always believed they should. In that case, 2009 =21,885,016. 3,885/year still unusual result. If found, will direct.