This year, the First Nations suicide crisis has not only continued its dramatic escalation, but the lack of adequate response only worsens as the rates rise and it remains relatively unacknowledged, writes Paul Gregoire.
self-harm
When then-immigration minister Scott Morrison made a video in September last year callously informing refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru that they would never be allowed to settle in Australia, he hoped at least some would ask to be returned to their home country.
But the video failed spectacularly. Not a single refugee or asylum seeker asked to be returned. Instead, angered by the video, they started a series of protests, hunger strikes, attempted suicides and instances of self-harm.