Five Australian men commit suicide each day compared to just one woman, according to an academic who says the nation urgently needs a national men’s health policy.

Before the November election Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced a Labor government would develop a men’s health policy to complement the women’s policy created 20 years ago.

Professor John Macdonald from the Australasian Men’s Health Forum said it was vital men’s health was put on the national agenda.

“Five men a day kill themselves in our country, one woman,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“That’s atrocious – what’s the country doing with that now?”

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“If it were five whales a day … we’d be out there pushing them back into the sea,” he said.

“But five males a day, who knows? Who cares? There’s something strange happening.”

Prof Macdonald said the problems fathers face when they are separated from their children during family break-ups must also be addressed.