Overview

This is the third Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report, prepared at the request of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). It provides indicators of Indigenous disadvantage, with a focus on areas where governments can make a difference. It contains information on the current level of disadvantage, and where possible, how that disadvantage has changed over time. And importantly, it acts as a driver for positive change by identifying key areas for action.

Across virtually all the indicators in this Report, wide gaps remain in outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Despite Australia’s world class health system, the life expectancy of Indigenous people is estimated to be around 17 years lower than that for the total Australian population. Despite compulsory education, Indigenous students at all levels experience much worse outcomes than non-Indigenous students. And Indigenous people are significantly over-represented in the criminal justice system, as both victims and offenders.

Although these outcomes are disturbing, the challenge is not impossible. Indigenous people make up just over 2 per cent of the Australian population (although they are widely dispersed across the country). Concerted action by governments, by Indigenous people and by business and the community can make a difference.

This Report is part of a commitment by all governments in Australia to tackle the problems that lead to Indigenous disadvantage. The Report’s framework is like a map - the priority outcomes identify the destination, while the indicators are like staging posts along the way, highlighting key areas for attention, showing how much progress has been made, and how far we still have to go.

The Report has three parts

• this Overview, which summarises the Report’s key messages
• the main Report, which provides more detailed information and the evidence base supporting the Report’s framework and choice of indicators
• the attachment tables (published on the Review website), which include all the data used in the Report.

Throughout this Report, the term ‘Indigenous’ is used to refer to people who have identified themselves as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Although the situations of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people can sometimes be very different, the relatively small numbers of Torres Strait Islander people make it extremely difficult to report separately about their experiences. Available data are reported in the section “Outcomes for Torres Strait Islander people.”

HOW MANY PEOPLE

In the 2001 Census, (data from the 2006 Census were not available for this Report), 410 000 Australians identified themselves as Indigenous, out of a total population of nearly 19 million people (around 2.2 per cent of the Australian population). Of these, 366 000 (89.4 per cent) identified as Aboriginal, 26 000 (6.4 per cent) as Torres Strait Islander and 17 500 (4.3 per cent) as both. A higher proportion of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations lived in NSW than other states (30 per cent and 34 per cent respectively). Relatively high proportions of the Indigenous population also lived in Queensland, WA and the NT.

Thirty per cent of Indigenous people lived in major cities, and 20 and 23 per cent lived in inner and outer regional areas respectively. Nine per cent lived in remote areas and 18 per cent in very remote areas. Nearly 90 per cent of non-Indigenous people lived in major cities or inner regional areas.

PROPORTION OF THE POPULATION IN EACH STATE AND TERRITORY, 2001

PROPORTION OF THE POPULATION IN EACH REMOTENESS AREA, 2001

Source: Figures A3.2 and A3.3. See appendix 3 of the main Report for more information.

HAS ANYTHING CHANGED?

For this Report, up to ten years data are available for some indicators (although there are no trend data at all for other indicators). The first Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report was released in November 2003. Given the relatively short time since the first Report, and delays in data collection, data in this Report may not reflect outcomes from more recent government actions. Future editions of this Report will be better placed to measure progress on some indicators – particularly when data from the 2006 Census become available.

There have been improvements in some indicators, although in some cases outcomes for non-Indigenous people have also improved, meaning a gap in outcomes persists. The clearest improvements have come in some of the economic indicators. From 1994 to 2004-05, there were large falls in the unemployment rate for Indigenous women and men (although these unemployment rates were influenced by participation in the CDEP program). Over the same period, the proportion of Indigenous adults living in homes owned or being purchased by a member of the household increased, and the proportion of Indigenous adults with a qualification of certificate level 3 or above increased from 8 per cent to 21 per cent. From 2002 to 2004-05, median (mid point) incomes for Indigenous people rose 10 per cent.

There have been increases in native title determinations (from almost 5 per cent of the total area of Australia in 2004 to over 8 per cent in 2006) and in land subject to registered Indigenous Land Use Agreements (from 2 per cent of the total area of Australia in 2003 to over 10 per cent in 2006). However, the proportion of Indigenous adults living in non-remote areas who did not recognise an area as their homelands increased between 1994 and 2004-05.

There have been improvements in child health, perhaps reflecting an emphasis on early intervention. Infant mortality rates have improved in recent years but are still two to three times as high as those for the total population of infants, and hospitalisation rates for 0–14 year olds decreased for a range of diseases associated with poor environmental health.

Other outcomes for children have not improved in the period covered by the Report. The proportion of low birthweight babies to Indigenous mothers did not change between 1998–2000 and 2002–2004, and there was no change in the prevalence of hearing problems among Indigenous children between 2001 and 2004-05. From 1999-2000 to 2005-06, the rates of substantiated notifications for child abuse or neglect and children on care and protection orders increased for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

Other health outcomes deteriorated. From 2001 to 2004-05, there was an increase in the number of long term health conditions for which Indigenous people reported significantly higher rates than non-Indigenous people. The Indigenous rate for kidney disease was 5 times as high as the non-Indigenous rate in 2001. In 2004-05 it was 10 times as high. Between 2001-02 and 2004-05, older Indigenous people (65 years and over) had increased hospitalisation rates for diseases associated with poor environmental health. Better reporting or improved access to health care may have contributed to these trends, but the negative outcomes are concerning.

Many environmental and behavioural risk factors that contribute to poor health outcomes have not improved. There was no change in the rate of housing overcrowding between 2002 and 2004-05. There was little change in reported ‘risky to high risk’ alcohol consumption by Indigenous men between 1995 and 2004-05, and the reported rate increased for Indigenous women. Over the same period, the reported rate of smoking among Indigenous women and men remained constant, and the proportion of Indigenous people engaging in moderate or high levels of exercise decreased.

Indigenous people’s involvement with the criminal justice system continued to deteriorate. Between 2002 and 2006, the imprisonment rate for Indigenous women increased by 34 per cent and the imprisonment rate for Indigenous men increased by over 20 per cent. The difference between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous juvenile detention rates increased between 2001 and 2005.

CONSULTATIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN REPORTING

The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report has evolved over time. Each edition has been informed by feedback received during consultations, and by new evidence and data.

Extensive consultations were held in 2006, seeking feedback on the 2005 Report and suggestions for improvements to the framework and indicators. A consultation team visited Indigenous communities and Indigenous organisations across the country, in a range of remote and regional centres, as well as major cities. The team also met with representatives of all governments, and many expert bodies.

Some common themes were evident in consultations:

• Most fundamentally, there was broad support for the Report - Indigenous people generally considered that the indicators reflected the issues affecting their communities and causing disadvantage.
• The identification of ‘things that work’ was seen as very useful, and participants supported identification of the ‘success factors’ behind the ‘things that work’.
• Cultural issues were regarded as significant to the wellbeing of Indigenous Australians but there was general acceptance of the difficulty of developing additional indicators.
• There was a general view that improving governance remains critically important at organisational, community and government levels.

Following the consultations, several improvements were made for this Report:

• Two new indicators have been included in the ‘Functional and resilient families and communities’ strategic area for action:

  - ‘Mental health’ - mental health and wellbeing and the prevalence of mental disorders are important factors in Indigenous health
  - ‘Engagement with service delivery’ - removing barriers to service access is critical to reducing disadvantage for Indigenous families and communities.

• ‘Access to the nearest health professional’ has been renamed ‘Access to primary health care’ to provide a broader measure of access to health services.
• ‘Things that work’ examples have been expanded, and ‘success factors’ behind the ‘things that work’ have been identified.
• The governance case studies now include an additional key determinant ‘resources’ and a discussion of ‘government governance’.

CONSULTATION RESPONSES ON CULTURE

Culture plays a significant role in Indigenous wellbeing, and must be recognised in actions designed to overcome Indigenous disadvantage. This is clearly shown in the ‘success factors’ identified for the ‘things that work’ and the key determinants of successful governance arrangements (both discussed below).

Most Indigenous people who took part in the consultations, while encouraging development of additional indicators of culture, strongly supported the indicators in the 2005 Report that touched on cultural issues:

• Indigenous cultural studies in school curriculum and involvement of Indigenous people in development and delivery of Indigenous studies
• Indigenous people with access to their traditional lands (including determinations of native title)
• participation in organised sport, arts or community group activities
• Indigenous owned or controlled land
• case studies in governance arrangements.

Source: NNTT (unpublished); table 11A.3.8.

The consultations raised three areas for possible new cultural indicators: language; heritage; and Indigenous culture and law. Each of these areas was regarded as important, but there was no agreement on specific indicators. Some of the ‘things that work’ in the Report provide examples of these aspects of culture, and continuing research will be undertaken for future reports.

Reporting on ‘wellbeing’ is related to reporting on culture. Many Indigenous people expressed the view that, although the measures in the Report are important, they do not show the whole picture of Indigenous wellbeing. This partly reflects the terms of reference for this Report – to report on overcoming disadvantage. This requires a different approach to reporting on wellbeing, because wellbeing is more than just the absence of disadvantage. Although this is not a ‘wellbeing’ Report, it does include some relevant information, including self-reported feelings of happiness, and the stressors experienced by Indigenous people (in the sections on mental health and housing overcrowding). In addition, the section on engagement with service delivery reports on barriers to accessing services, including cultural barriers. Future Reports may be able to report more ‘wellbeing’ information, drawing on work by the ABS on measuring Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing.

THE REPORTING FRAMEWORK

The reporting framework is described in detail in the main Report. At the top, three priority outcomes reflect a vision for how life should be for Indigenous people, endorsed by governments and Indigenous people. These outcomes are linked and should not be viewed in isolation – they all need to be pursued in order to overcome Indigenous disadvantage. But how can progress toward achieving such broad outcomes be measured?

Report Chapter 1: Introduction
(PDF document)
Report Chapter 2: Framework
(PDF document)