Australia is failing on domestic violence, suicide and the road toll | Sam Shahin

The statistics don’t lie. We are not doing a good job as a society to improve on any of those fronts, writes Sam Shahin.

“At the end of the day, we’re all walking each other home” is a wonderful quote by Raymond Daas, etched on my garage wall.

We are all on the same path. I, however, lament the loss of every human prematurely robbed of a wonderful life. Three causes move me deeply: the road toll, domestic violence and suicide. There is almost an unwritten rule, a taboo, about not talking out loud about those issues. I think it’s time we did.

There were 1310 lives lost on Australian roads over the last 12 months – the highest figure in more than a decade. That’s a death almost every six hours, every day of the year.

Dr Sam Shahin in his garage at the Bend Motor Sport Park in Tailem Bend. Picture: Matt Turner.

One in five Australians has experienced partner violence or abuse. That’s an estimated 4.2 million Australian adults who have experienced violent, emotional or economic abuse by a partner, and it goes both ways – 27 per cent of women and 15 per cent of men.

In 2023, there were 3249 Australians who died by suicide. That’s one every 2½ hours. Males are three times as likely to die by suicide as females.

The statistics don’t lie. We are not doing a good job to improve on any of those fronts.

Early education is the key. Parents are expected to know it all – raise responsible children endeared with principles that value one’s life and the life of others. Each of us does it our own way, and generally the same way our parents did.

A radical overhaul of what we teach is necessary. I want to see community values entrenched broadly in the formative years of life and endorsed over and over through early childhood.

The early school years are the medium to deliver those consistent values, to entrench from an early age civil society’s expectation of what’s right and what’s wrong.

Marcus Aurelius was one of the most admired Roman emperors. He is best known for his commitment to the stoic principles of wisdom, courage, justice and temperance.

For more than 2000 years, they have been a life reference on how to find “purpose”. The point is this: Communities will be better served by having the educators “educated” on those principles rather than rely on individual parents raising their own versions of stoic children.

Some may interpret this as abdicating some, or all, of the parenting responsibilities to others. Damn right, I say. Every kid should receive the same message about how to drive and how to ride, about how to treat and respect others, and about the sanctity of life and the abundance of help when in despair.

I left school with a sound knowledge of algebra, geometry, physics and chemistry. I think it’s OK to have a bit less of each of those disciplines but a broader understanding of values.

Our early-learning centres should be the starting place to nurture the aspiration of the young for excellence, the place to establish a child’s drive to help and assist others, the environment to formulate respect for all others irrespective of gender or age, and the place to educate them about the vast avenues available to seek help when faced with difficulties.

We need to create a sense of community for the young – and from the early formative years. If you add the complexity of assimilating migrant populations into our society, it starts to make even more sense to instil community values from very early on.

I don’t proclaim that this will result in the end of deaths on our roads, domestic violence, or suicide, but I think it is negligent not to make a serious effort to make a start. Your life, or the life of a loved one, may depend on it one day.

Sam Shahin is managing director of The Bend Motorsport Park and Mallala Motorsport Park