There is a full-blown epidemic of male suicide in Australia.

In 2023, more than 2600 Australians took their own lives—double the national road toll for the same year. All of them were preventable tragedies, and all of them have devastated the families and friends of the victims.

More than 90% of suicides in 2023 were men and boys. The gap between male and female suicide in Australia is immense.

The causes are many. There’s no doubt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns had significant impact on the mental health of many Australians struggling in isolation. Albanese government policies have left many Australians struggling with the cost of living and securing affordable accommodation, driving further mental health challenges.

The government also halved the number of subsidised psychologist appointments that Australians could access. According to the government, there’s a national shortage of psychologists, many of whom have abandoned working with most Australians to work for much higher pay rates under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

On Tuesday this week—International Men’s Day—Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts joined advocates for the victims of male suicide on the lawns in front of Parliament House. Many advocates spoke passionately about the significant number of male suicides associated with unjust outcomes in family law courts.

One Nation has always championed reforms in a family law system that has been heavily biassed against men and fathers, an imbalance made worse last year by the Albanese government’s removal of shared parenting responsibility from family law.

Senator Hanson this week repeated her call for the appointment of a Minister for Men to help deal with the increasing challenges that Australian men face. For a Labor government that often promotes its commitment to gender equality and spends uncounted taxpayer dollars on supporting women, it seems the challenges for men are just not on its radar. If we have a Minister for Women, gender equality demands a Minister for Men.