Last year, 2866 people died by suicide, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this week reveals.

It is more than twice the 1295 people who died during the same period in the national road toll. It has been this way for the past decade.

Of those who died by suicide last year, 75 per cent were male, with 30-34 year olds making up the highest proportion.

And while the total number of people who took their lives by suicide has dropped compared to the 3027 in 2015, Mr Ferguson said the figures were still horrifying.

He has previously called the high suicide rate a national emergency, and said any attempt at reducing the numbers needs a whole community approach.

“Politicians don’t like talking about it [suicide] … it’s not a sexy topic, it’s a bloody awful topic,” Mr Ferguson said.

“Billions of dollars goes to roads [safety] and it’s not being spent on mental health.

“If we want to do anything with suicide, we need to go out into the community where the problem exists.

“We’ve got to stop sweeping it under the table.”

Mr Ferguson said the community and politicians must acknowledge that suicide was often not a spur of the moment decision, and in most cases was the culmination of many factors leading up to that decision.

This culmination of factors could include: domestic violence, marriage break up, excessive drinking, drugs or financial issues.

“You just keep adding to the problem and at that point it only takes one thing,” Mr Ferguson said.

“In most cases it didn’t ‘just’ happen, there has been a pathway.

“It is true that the time somebody decides to take their own life, they are certainly mentally distressed.”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to be over-represented in this week’s data released by the ABS.

Data for the past decade shows that their rates of suicide have been higher than non-indigenous at 23.7 compared to 11.6 deaths per 100,000 people.

Mr Ferguson said while suicide numbers had dropped when comparing 2016 data with that from 2015, he said he was worried last year’s data may increase slightly.

“Some cases are still being assessed [by the coroner] so they may have not yet been determined,” he said.