Funding for the Suicide Prevention Research Fund has officially run out, even as a Productivity Commission report roundly criticises the Commonwealth’s lack of action in the space.
Days after a Productivity Commission interim report labelled Australia’s mental health and suicide prevention system “alienating, inadequate, ill-informed and under-resourced”, the only dedicated suicide prevention research fund says its money has run out.
The Suicide Prevention Research Fund was established by the Commonwealth in 2016 and is administered by industry peak Suicide Prevention Australia.
Its last major funding boost came in 2022, when the Morrison government allotted it $4 million over two years.
“Funding for the Suicide Prevention Research Fund was originally due to cease on 30 June 2024,” a spokesman for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing told The Medical Republic, Health Services Daily’s sister publication. .
“As available funding was not able to be fully disbursed by that date, the funding period was extended to 30 June 2025.
“The National Suicide Prevention Research Fund was a time-limited funding measure, the funding sat outside of the flagship National Suicide Prevention Leadership and Support Program.”
Funding for the program has officially run dry this week, according to Suicide Prevention Australia.
“[The program has funded] over 80 projects … across 27 different universities, and we feel it’s been enormously successful,” Suicide Prevention Australia acting CEO Chris Stone told The Medical Republic
“But unfortunately, the funding for it has come to an end as of [Monday], despite quite a lot of advocacy on our part and, indeed, a lot of pressure from the suicide prevention sector.
“There haven’t been any moves by the government to renew this funding, and so at this point there will be no further new research funded under this program.”
To be clear, administering the fund is just one part of Suicide Prevention Australia’s operations; the peak will wind down the research program but continue its normal activities.
The cut to the program will not necessarily affect the day-to-day running of Suicide Prevention Australia, but Mr Stone said the organisation was “disturbed” nonetheless.
“One of the things that’s really brilliant about the National Suicide Prevention Research Fund, from my point of view, is how much it funds pragmatic, grounded research,” he said.
“One of the one of the projects I really loved was looking at what search terms people use prior to potentially making a suicide attempt, and then putting suicide prevention information in front of them at that point.
“And that research wasn’t theoretical – they actually did this online at the same time as they were demonstrating that this could be effective.
“[So] they were also saving lives at the same time.
“A lot of these research projects are like that … and so the impact is that we’re just not going to see any more of these programs happening.”
The fund has also played a crucial part in pushing Australia to the forefront of suicide prevention research.
At a recent international suicide prevention conference, Mr Stone said, there were 14 Australian researchers who presented, all of whom had been supported by the fund at one point.
Somewhat ironically, the funding ran out just days after the Productivity Commission interim report on the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement.
The thrust of the interim report was that Australia’s mental health and suicide prevention services were spread thin, that the current iteration of the agreement did not funnel funding into the most effective channels and that some key areas have been left unfunded.
While the document did not necessarily mention research or the Suicide Prevention Research Foundation, it did highlight a general level of confusion around which levels of government are meant to be responsible for funding different parts of the system.
“You would think that, when you have a Productivity Commission report that is pointing out how much we need new, better and more innovative approaches that something like [a research fund] should really be on the agenda for being kept,” Mr Stone said.
The DoHDA spokesman confirmed with TMR that the decision not to renew funding predated the release of the Productivity Commission report.
Under the National Suicide Prevention Leadership and Support Program, Suicide Prevention Australia has been allotted $7.9 million in funding over four years. The organisation is also receiving $1.9m as part of the Health Peak and Advisory Bodies program.
Suicide Prevention Australia has started a petition calling for an urgent reinstatement of the Suicide Prevention Research Fund.
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