The Australian National Audit Office has released findings critical of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's development and monitoring of suicide prevention measures.
"Four to five years after several national agreements, objectives to reduce suicide have not been achieved," the audit found.
"There is no framework to support measuring and monitoring the impact of the Australian government's suicide prevention investment."
There were more than 3300 suicide deaths in 2024, and it is the leading cause of death for Australians aged 15 to 44 years.
The suicide rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is more than double the rate for non-Indigenous Australians and is increasing.
Youth mental health expert Patrick McGorry said the findings showed "governments need to lead more strongly on this".
"Let's put our efforts into major programs that are likely to work; let's fund a system of health care that effectively treats people who are at maximum risk," he told AAP.
He called for the creation of a national statutory suicide prevention authority with "really powerful tools to actually control the funding and invest in coherent programs".
The federal government committed to addressing suicide through two national agreements - Closing the Gap in 2020 and the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement in 2022.
"DHDA did not fully support these commitments through robust policy development, including in genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, or effective performance monitoring," the audit found.
"While new suicide prevention measures were implemented, DHDA has not established arrangements to determine whether outcomes are being achieved."
Black Dog Institute's First Nations strategy director Clinton Schultz said policies and programs developed without clear roles, strong collaboration and culturally informed leadership risked "missing the mark for the communities they are intended to support".
"Without genuine buy-in and active partnership from governments and the relevant departments, opportunity risks being lost," Associate Professor Schultz told AAP.
Elders, community leaders and community members had deep knowledge about what worked in their communities.
"Ensuring that this knowledge informs policy, program design and evaluation is essential," he said.
Since 2022, the department has administered 41 suicide prevention measures with government funding of more than $990 million.
The department's development and monitoring of suicide prevention measures was only "partly effective", and policy advice was "not fully robust", the audit found.
The audit recommends the department finalise an agreement with the National Suicide Prevention Office to ensure clear roles and responsibilities, including in developing and providing advice to government on suicide prevention policy.
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