An indigenous-led initiative to take on youth suicide is getting a AU$10 Million boost from the government as the program in unveiled in a community hard hit by the problem.

"Every suicide is a tragedy and the effects on tight-knit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are often more profound – contributing to the clusters of suicide and self-harm that we see," said Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion, as he announced the program's expansion in Groote Eylandt, a remote indigenous community on an island in the Gulf of Carpentaria.  "Suicide rates among Indigenous people are twice the national rate and five times the national rate for young people.  For suicide rates to fall it is essential Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can access responsive and culturally-appropriate care - and this is something the Critical Response Service will support."

The Indigenous-led Critical Response Service (CRS) is already underway in Western Australia over the past year.  Now, it will be expanded into the Northern Territory and South Australia this year, and then into the rest of the country in 2018.

The CRS is led by Adele Cox, a Bunuba and Gija woman from WA with two decades of experience in suicide prevention.  "Families are struggling, families aren't sure where to go," she told the ABC.  "There are so many families and communities who were not being provided with the right sort of support with regard to response times as soon as a suicide or a traumatic incident occurred."

Tony Wurramarraba, chairman of the Anindilyakwa Land Council, says suicides in his community can be traced back to two problems.  "Bullying on technology, on mobile phones, talking, sending messages and that sort of stuff," he said,"to the young ones when they do get those messages and die, it really has a serious effect on them."

Mr. Wurramarraba said this coincided with elders losing their traditional places of prominence in community lives.  "Our rights were taken away from us," he lamented, "The powers of the old people were taken away, that's when everything went downhill."