MOJO News is embarking on a campaign to highlight the devastating impact suicide is having on our society.

Suicide is the leading cause of death and injury for Australians aged 15-44, so we would like to see a Federal Minister for Suicide Prevention appointed.

These people aren’t just statistics. They are our fathers, our brothers, our mothers, our sisters and our friends.

We love them.

We need them.

We want to keep them with us.

Around eight Australians die by suicide each day. For males, the rate of suicide is more than three times that of females.

MOJO News is run by Monash University’s journalism and media communication students.

As young student journalists, we watch the nightly news, scan the daily papers and keep the radio on.

We regularly hear about the road toll or murder and the devastating impact of each.

But we notice we don’t often hear about suicide – even though it’s the thing most likely to kill the people we love.

We know talking about suicide can be uncomfortable, but we think it’s time we started the discussion.

For everyone’s benefit.

Please sign and share our petition, to help us seek help from the Federal Government so, together, we can bring this all too common killer out of the shadows.