Toitū te Waiora congratulates our Council member Matthew Tukaki (Ngāi Te Rangi) on his appointment as the new Director of the Suicide Prevention Office this week.

 

Matthew brings with him a wealth of experience from his previous suicide prevention work both here and in Australia, where he helped to set up a similar suicide prevention agency.

Toitū te Waiora Chief Executive Donovan Clarke praised the appointment, saying that Matthew brings the passion, commitment, and experience to make a difference in this critical area. “Urgent action is required if we want to address suicide rates in Aotearoa, which are at crisis levels,” Donovan said.

“Any suicide is a tragedy and looking at the figures we can see that it is a tragedy that is disproportionately affecting Māori,” Donovan said. “Having Matthew as the Director of the Suicide Prevention Office is a positive step towards addressing these woeful and heart-breaking statistics,” Donovan said.

Matthew has long been advocating for honest conversations about what is working and what isn’t in the suicide prevention area. And not only having the conversations but taking the action needed to prevent the endless cycle of pain caused by suicide.

Matthew will start his new role on July 1.