We Must Talk About It

New Zealand’s chief coroner Judge Neil MacLean has made “an impassioned plea for people to speak more openly about suicide calling for a re-think of laws and self imposed restrictions on what Coroners can say about suicides.” MacLean talks to Radio Australia presenter, Philippa McDonald about “one of the country’s biggest public health issues”. “We are unduly coy about talking about suicide to the affect of both our law and the practice of coroners is meaning the public aren’t getting the true full picture about the reality of suicide,” MacLean says. “Now, suicide deaths exceed the road toll; that’s the same in both our countries. The public just don’t know.” MacLean is meeting with the news editors of New Zealand’s major media organisations during August, and he’ll be a key speaker at an international conference of coroners in November.