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ACT Makes Headway on Improving Social And Living Conditions For Indigenous Community

30 June 2004 - Chief Minister Jon Stanhope ACT - Media Release -Chief Minister Jon Stanhope has welcomed the results of the first comprehensive National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (2002 NATSISS) released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The survey covers areas of social concern, such as culture, family and community, health, housing, work, education and income.

“The survey shows the ACT is leading the nation with better living conditions for our Indigenous population,” said Mr Stanhope.

“It shows Indigenous people living in the ACT have the highest levels of participation in culture and family support in Australia and the highest levels of involvement in social activities and sport.

“The survey also showed that 95.5 per cent of Indigenous Canberrans were able to access the support of someone outside the household in a time of crisis and 47.4 per cent had participated in voluntary work in the past 12 months. This was nearly double the national average and illustrates the excellent participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the community,” he said.

According to the ABS survey Indigenous people in the ACT had much higher levels of employment than other jurisdictions and the lowest levels of unemployment at 5.6 per cent compared with 13.8 per cent nationally.

The ACT’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are also the most educated with 44.8 per cent having post school qualifications; nearly double the national average.

“However we recognise that the ACT still has many areas to work on. The 2002 NATSISS showed we had the second highest percentage of Indigenous people removed from their natural family and there was a higher proportion of victims of physical violence,” Mr Stanhope said.

“Life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is more complex and 87.3 per cent experience stressors in their life such as job loss or a death in the family compared with 61.6 per cent of non-Indigenous people.

“It is interesting to note that since a similar study was carried out in 1994, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing difficulty communicating with service providers has halved to 4.5 per cent. This shows we have made significant progress in meeting the needs of Indigenous people and communicating with them in a sensitive and culturally appropriate way.

“The information released in this survey will enable the government to formulate strong, evidence-based policy, which will benefit the ACT’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“The statistics will also be extremely useful in delivering on the commitments to the Indigenous community outlined in The Canberra Social Plan with the priority of ‘respect, diversity and human rights’.

“The major findings of the 2002 NATSISS reinforces the importance the ACT Government places on Indigenous policy issues in Canberra. In the 2004-2005 Budget we delivered the broadest range of initiatives to assist the Indigenous community since self-government with funding of more than $7.7 million over the next four years.

“We have also shown our commitment through the signing the Shared Responsibility Agreement to identify ways to improve the conditions for Indigenous communities by combining the resources of the ACT Government, the Australian Government and representative bodies of the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

“Despite the decision by the Australian Government to abolish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) my Government will continue to carry out the principles of this agreement,” said Mr Stanhope.

Further details on the survey findings are attached.

Statement Ends
Media Contact: Penny Farnsworth 6205 0434(w) 0417 481 407(m) penny.farnsworth@act.gov.au

National results
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples comprise 2.4% of the total Australian population. Torres Strait Islanders comprised 11% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia. A significant share of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population (69%) lives outside the major urban centres.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are a young population with a median age of 20.5 years, compared to 36.1 years for the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.

Indicators of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural retention do not show any decline in the maintenance of culture since 1994. A similar proportion (just over half) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continued to identify with a clan, tribal or language group, as was the case in 1994, despite there being a decline in the proportion (29% to 22%) of people who lived in homelands and traditional country.

Both the 1994 and 2002 surveys recorded that 8% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years or over had been taken away from their natural family.

The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years or over who reported their health as excellent or very good was about the same as in 1994 (approximately 45%), but a higher proportion of people assessed their health as fair/poor in 2002 (23% compared to 17% in 1994).

The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reporting a non-school qualification of Bachelor degree or above, while small at just over 3% has progressed significantly since 1994 (just over 1%). Significant gains also occurred in the number of people reporting other non-school qualifications such as certificates and diplomas from 12% in 1994 to 26% in 2002.

While the total proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the labour force remained constant at around 60% in both 1994 and 2002, the proportion of employed people increased from 36% to 46%, and the proportion of unemployed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people fell from 22% to 14%. Improvements in long-term unemployment were also evident. Since 1994 the proportion of all unemployed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that had been unemployed for one year of longer has fell from about a half to one-quarter.

Government pensions and allowances was the main income source for 50% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 2002 (compared to 55% in 1994), while wages and salaries accounted for 39% (compared to 33% in 1994).

The majority (70%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons lived in rented accommodation in 2002, with an apparent decline in the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in accommodation rented from state/territory housing authorities, from 33% in 1994 to 22% in 2002. In 2002, the proportion of those living in dwellings either owned or being purchased was 27%, up from 22% in 1994.

One-quarter of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 2002 reported that they had been a victim of physical or threatened violence in the previous 12 months, nearly double the rate reported in 1994 (13%).

Major results for the ACT

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the ACT had the highest levels of culture and family support in Australia. They had above the national average identification with clan, the highest involvement in social activities, participation in sport, voluntary work, support in crisis, and attended a cultural event.
• However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra also had higher than the national average for persons removed from the natural family (the second highest in Australia), for experiencing stressors (eg death in the family, loss of job etc), and the lowest proportion of people living in homelands, and speaking an Indigenous language.
• The survey also found that since the last survey in 1994, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing difficulty communicating with service providers has halved to be only 4.5%.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had better health status compared with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people elsewhere in Australia. However, still 17.9% had fair to poor health, and over a third have a disability. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had lower health risk factors of smoking and risky consumption of alcohol.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the highest level of educational attainment in Australia, with 44.8% having post school educational qualifications (compared to 26.1% nationally).
• Compared to the last survey in 1994, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra who had attained post school educational qualifications has increased significantly from 25.8% to 43%.
• However, compared to the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had much lower levels of post school qualifications.
• Since the last survey in 1994, the unemployment rate has fallen from 13.9% to 5.6%, but the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people not in the labour force has increased significantly from 15.1% to 31.5%.
• Compared to the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a much higher proportion of people who were not in the labour force.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the highest incomes in Australia ($619 average household income, compared to $387 nationally), and the lowest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the lowest income groups.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the lowest rate of financial stress in Australia, with only 25.8% not being able to raise $2,000 within a week (compared to the national average of 54.3%).
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the highest proportion currently buying their own home, 32.4% compared with 16.8% nationally. They also had a large proportion renting from Housing ACT, 28.9%, higher than the national average of 22.1% in public housing.
  · The quality of the dwellings housing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is higher in Canberra, with 30.5% having major structural problems, the second lowest proportion nationally (39.6%). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the second lowest proportion of overcrowding in dwellings with only 14.0% requiring an additional bedroom (25.7% nationally).
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a lower proportion of arrests (14.5%) than the national average (16.4%), but had the highest proportion of victims of physical violence in Australia (33.3%, compared to 24.3% nationally). Males had much higher rates of arrests, but similar levels as victims of violence.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the lowest proportion of people with transport difficulties in Australia, 5.3% compared with 11.7% nationally, but much higher levels of transport difficulties compared to the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra were the most mobile in Australia, with 32.6% moving dwellings in the last 12 months, compared to 30.9% nationally. Males had higher levels of mobility.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the highest use of computers (83.3%, compared to 55.5% nationally), and the highest use of the Internet (76.2% compared with 41.0% nationally). Females had higher levels of use of information technology. However, compared the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had much lower levels of use of information technology.

Detailed analyses of results for the ACT

Summary
The 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) is a multi-dimensional social survey of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population designed to enable analysis of the interrelationship of social circumstances and outcomes, including the exploration of multiple disadvantage, that may be experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

This publication contains selected results from the 1994 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey (NATSIS). These results are limited to topics where a reasonable level of comparability between the 1994 and 2002 surveys is expected.

Understanding the extent to which data from the 2002 NATSISS and the 1994 NATSIS can be compared is essential to interpreting apparent changes over time.

While some key data items in the 2002 NATSISS are the same or similar to those in the 1994 NATSIS, there are important differences in sample design and coverage, survey methodology and content, definitions, and classifications, all of which may impact on comparability between the surveys.

The results from the 2002 NATSISS allow for some broad measures of change to be made for those data items which are comparable to the data collected in 1994. To account for the high growth in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population between the 1991 Census (the basis for the 1994 survey's population benchmarks) and the 1996 Census, the 1994 NATSIS data file has been re-benchmarked based on 1996 Census-based population estimates, and survey data revised accordingly.

Family and culture
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the ACT had the highest levels of culture and family support in Australia. They had above the national average identification with clan, involvement in social activities (the highest in Australia), participation in sport (higher for males and the highest in Australia), undertake voluntary work (the highest in Australia), support in crisis (the highest in Australia), and attended a cultural event.

However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra also had higher than the national average for persons removed from the natural family (the second highest in Australia), for experiencing stressors (eg death in the family, loss of a job etc), and the lowest proportion of people living in homelands, and speaking an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language.

The survey also identified that the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that attended a cultural event increased significantly since the last survey in 1994. The survey also found that since the last survey in 1994, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing difficulty communicating with service providers has halved to be only 4.5%.

Family and culture ACT % Aust %
Involved in social activities in last 3 months 95.3 90.0
Participated in sport or physical recreation activities in last 12 months 64.1 49.3
Had undertaken voluntary work in last 12 months 47.4 27.6
Able to get support in time of crisis from someone outside household 95.5 90.4
At least one stressor experienced in last 12 months 87.3 82.3
Person or relative removed from natural family 50.9 37.6
Identifies with clan, tribal or language group 69.9 54.1
Currently lives in homelands/traditional country 9.2 21.9
Attended cultural event(s) in last 12 months 73.3 68.1
Speaks an Indigenous language 10.7 21.1
Main language spoken at home
Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander language 1.2 10.9

Compared to non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experienced much higher levels of personal stressors, and lower levels of participation in sport.

Health and disability
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had high health status, compared with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people elsewhere in Australia. However, still 17.9% had fair to poor health, and over a third have a disability. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had lower health risk factors of smoking and consumption of alcohol.

After adjusting for the different age structures of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, Indigenous people in the ACT were:

• twice as likely as non-Indigenous people to report their health as "fair" or "poor"
• two-thirds as likely to report "excellent" or "very good" health
• one and a half times more likely to have a disability or long-term health condition than non-Indigenous people.

Health and disability ACT % Aust %
Self-assessed health status
Excellent/Very good 46.7 44.1
Fair/Poor 17.9 23.3
Disability 37.5 36.5
Currently smokes cigarettes 43.1 48.6
Has not drunk alcohol in last 12 months 14.2 15.1

Compared to the last survey in 1994, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with fair to poor health has increased significantly from 6.1% to 17.9%, and the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who had not drunk alcohol in the past 12 months has decreased from 24.5% to 14.7%.

Education
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the highest level of educational attainment in Australia, with 44.8% having post school educational qualifications (compared to 26.1% nationally).

Compared to the last survey in 1994, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra who had attained post school educational qualifications has increased significantly from 25.8% to 43%.

Compared to the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had much lower levels of post school qualifications.

Employment
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra have higher levels of employment and the lowest levels of unemployment in Australia (5.6%, compared to 13.8% nationally). Males had lower rates of unemployment than females.

Since the last survey in 1994, the unemployment rate has fallen from 13.9% to 5.6%, but the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people not in the labour force has increased significantly from 15.1% to 31.5%.

Compared to the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a much higher proportion of people who were not in the labour force.

Income
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the highest incomes in Australia ($619 average household income, compared to $387 nationally), and the lowest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the lowest income groups.

Since the last survey in 1994, the proportion reporting government benefits as the main source of income has increased from 23% to 34.8%.

Compared to the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had much lower levels of income and higher proportions of people in the lowest income levels.

Financial stress
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the lowest rate of financial stress in Australia, with only 25.8% not being able to raise $2,000 within a week (compared to the national average of 54.3%).

Compared to the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had much higher proportions of people who could not raise $2,000 in an emergency, and much higher levels of cash flow problems during the year.

Housing
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the highest proportion currently buying their own home, 32.4% compared with 16.8% nationally. They also had a large proportion renting from Housing ACT, 28.9%, higher than the national average of 22.1% for public housing.

The quality of the dwellings housing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is higher in Canberra, with 30.5% having major structural problems, the second lowest proportion nationally (39.6%). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the second lowest proportion of overcrowding in dwellings with only 14.0% requiring an additional bedroom (25.7% nationally).

Law and justice
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a lower proportion of arrests (14.5%) than the national average (16.4%), but had the highest proportion of victims of physical violence in Australia (33.3%, compared to 24.3% nationally). Males had much higher rates of arrests, but similar levels as victims of violence.

Compared to 1994, Indigenous people in the ACT in 2002 were twice as likely to report that they had been a victim of physical or threatened violence in the previous 12 months (33% in 2002, up from 15% in 1994). These victimisation rates were highest among younger people (41% of those aged 15-24). There has also been an increase in the proportion of Indigenous people in the ACT who reported having been arrested in the previous five years (from 8% in 1994 to 15% in 2002), in contrast to the national trend, where the proportion decreased (from 20% in 1994 to 16% in 2002).

Transport
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the lowest proportion of people with transport difficulties in Australia, 5.3% compared with 11.7% nationally, but much higher levels of transport difficulties compared to the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra.

Mobility
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra were the most mobile in Australia, with 32.6% moving dwellings in the last 12 months, compared to 30.9% nationally. Males had higher levels of mobility.

Information technology
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra had the highest use of computers (83.3%, compared to 55.5% nationally), and the highest use of the Internet (76.2% compared with 41.0% nationally). Females had higher levels of use of information technology. However, compared the non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had much lower levels of use of information technology.

Source: Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister

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