Social Justice Report 2003: PROGRESS IN ADDRESSING INDIGENOUS DISADVANTAGE

PROGRESS IN ADDRESSING INDIGENOUS DISADVANTAGE

Gross household income for Indigenous people increased
by 11% between 1996 and 2001. In 2001, it was 62% of the rate for non-Indigenous
Australians, compared to 64% in 1996.
Median gross individual income for Indigenous people
increased by 19% from 1996 to 2001, compared to an increase of 28.4%
for non-Indigenous people. There has been a considerable increase in
the disparity in individual income between these two groups between
1996 and 2001, as well as over the decade from 1991 to 2001.

In 2001, 54% of Indigenous people of working age were participating in the labour force compared to 73% of non-Indigenous people.
In 2001, the unemployment rate for Indigenous people was 20% - an improvement from the rate of 23% in 1996. This is three times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous Australians.
18% of all Indigenous people in employment in 2001 worked on a CDEP scheme. If CDEP were classified as a form of unemployment, the Indigenous unemployment rate would rise to over 34%.

69% of Indigenous students progressed from year 10 (compulsory)
to year 11 (non-compulsory) schooling, compared to 90% of non-Indigenous
students in 2001.
38% of Indigenous students were retained to year 12 in
2002 compared to over 76% for non-Indigenous students. This was an increase
from 29% in 1996.
In 2001, Indigenous people participated in post-secondary
education at a similar rate to non-Indigenous people, although they
had a slightly higher attendance rate at TAFE colleges and lower attendance
rates at universities. The proprtion of Indigenous youth (aged 15-24
years) attending a tertiary institution declined between 1996 and 2001.

In 2001, 63% of Indigenous households were renting (compared
to 27% of non-Indigenous households), and 13% owned their home outright
(compared to 40%).
Indigenous people are 5.6 times more likely to
live in over-crowded houses than non-Indigenous people.

Indigenous people have consistently constituted 20% of
the total prisoner population since the late 1990s, compared to 14%
in 1991.
Indigenous people are imprisoned at 16 times the rate
of non-Indigenous people. Indigenous women are imprisoned at over 19
times the rate of non-Indigenous women. These rates are higher than
in 1991, when the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
reported.
Since 1997, Indigenous juveniles have constituted at
least 42% of all incarcerated juveniles, despite constituting 4% of
the total juvenile population. In 2002, Indigenous juveniles were incarcerated
at a rate 19 times that of non-Indigenous juveniles, an increase from
13 times in 1993.

Indigenous children come into contact with the care and protection
system at a greater rate than non-Indigenous children, and are increasingly
represented at the more serious stages of intervention.