Suicide-prevention experts have said the number of Australians taking their own life could be reduced by 20 per cent within two years by a nine-point "systems approach" to care and early intervention.
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With no substantial drops in suicide rates two decades after Australia's first national prevention strategy, researchers said European trials confirmed a systematic, community-focused approach was the answer.
Black Dog Institute senior research fellow Dr Fiona Shand said key areas for attention included providing ongoing care for people after they had a suicide attempt, getting better support for those with suicidal ideation and focusing more on screening.
"A lot of what is happening is not necessarily based on good evidence about what works and what doesn't," she said.
"A lot of people who have a suicide attempt have had a recent contact with a health professional."
Community-focused approaches in Nuremberg, Germany, had lowered suicide deaths by 20 per cent in one year.
Governments now needed to take the lead after the strategy, by the Centre for Research Excellence on Suicide Prevention, which is based at the institute, had received widespread endorsement at a national summit on suicide prevention in Canberra this month, Dr Shand said.
National Mental Health Commission chairman Allan Fels said last week much of the federal government's $10 billion spending on mental health and suicide prevention was being wasted on ineffective "downstream programs".
Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service chief executive Julie Tongs backed the calls for closer attention for those who had self-harmed, saying her service was best practice in following up its at-risk clients within days.
Ms Tongs said she was aware of three young men in the ACT Aboriginal community who had died by suicide in April, with none since and none last year.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed 2522 people died by suicide in 2013. This included 37 people in the ACT, up from 24 in 2012.
Questioned about the proposed strategy, Health Minister Simon Corbell said the ACT government's mental health, justice health and alcohol and drug services units had placed additional mental health clinicians into each of the community mental health teams in 2012, providing increased support for those transitioning out of the ACT's two mental health inpatient units.
Mr Corbell said a diversion service for those who had recently begun to self-harm and presented to authorities had also been funded in this year's budget and should lower the risk of suicide with earlier intervention.
ACT Health last financial year contacted 72 per cent of people during the seven days after their discharge from the inpatient mental health services.
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