Ballarat recorded 831 deaths last year, compared to 794 in 2014.
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The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Wednesday also shows 82 more local people died in 2015 compared to 2013 and 133 more than 2012.
While the ABS data does not break down into causes for local government areas, it does show heart disease, dementia, strokes, lung cancer and chronic respiratory conditions were the five leading causes of the 159,052 deaths nationwide.
However, suicide was the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 44, with more than 3000 suicide deaths recorded across Australia for the first time.
Males took their own lives at three times the rate of females but suicide rates were also the highest ever for women aged 45-54 years.
Former premier and beyondblue chairman Jeff Kennett has called for an all-party, bi-partisan Australian Senate Suicide Commission to investigate this “terrible toll” – a move backed by Ballarat mayor and Ballarat and District Suicide Prevention Network chairman Des Hudson.
“I support Jeff Kennett’s approach for a bi-partisan commission,” Cr Hudson said. “Our (region’s) suicide rate is higher than the national average.
“The suicide rate Australia wide is higher than all the state road tolls added together ...but there is nowhere near the same resources going into mental health.”
Cr Hudson said the Ballarat community needed to “grow its voice” and destigmatise suicide.
Ballarat’s Survivors of Suicide founder Kristy Steenhuis said, while there were only anecdotal suicide figures for the region, “one suicide death is still one too many”.
“It’s over 100 a year and that’s a conservative figure,” Ms Steenhuis said.
And it affects everyone, not only the immediate families but distant relatives and friends as well. The ripple effect goes on and on.”
SANE Australia chief executive officer Jack Heath said the number of people dying from suicide was deeply concerning, with people with complex mental illness having a 10 to 40 per cent increased risk of suicide.
“While as a nation we have made real advances in reducing stigma around mild to moderate mental health conditions, there is a huge amount of work to be done to help those at the more severe end of the spectrum,” Mr Heath said.