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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lBlack health and wealth still behindBy Patricia Karvelas 24 June 2004 - More aborigines are working, studying and shrugging off welfare dependency than ever before, but their health has seen no improvement over the past decade. A national snapshot of Aboriginal life shows the unemployment rate for indigenous people dropped from 38 per cent in 1994 to 23 per cent in 2002. Despite improved workrates, however, indigenous people were earning only 60 per cent of the income of the non-indigenous population in 2002. At the same time, the number of indigenous people with non-school qualifications, including university or TAFE, more than doubled over the same period. The proportion of indigenous people with a non-school qualification increased from about 12 per cent in 1994 to 26 per cent in 2002, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics survey, although this level still remained well below that for non-indigenous people according to the survey. But the statistics also expose a disturbing shift in health, with more people self-assessing their health as "fair to poor" in 2002, up from 17 per cent in 1994 to 23 per cent. The proportion of indigenous people aged 15 years or over who reported their health as excellent or very good was about the same as it was in 1994, at 45 per cent. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Amanda Vanstone said the statistics showed that the Howard Government's programs were working. "There have been some improvements in these areas; however, the Government acknowledges that there needs to be much more done and the Government's reforms of indigenous affairs are part of that," she said. In 2002, about one-sixth, or 15 per cent, of indigenous people over 15 reported "risky or high risk" drinking in the past 12 months. The rate was higher for indigenous males than females - 17 per cent compared with 13 per cent. And the level of risky or high-risk drinking was similar for indigenous people in urban and remote areas. The numbers of cigarette smokers stayed at 1994 levels - just over 50 per cent. And one-third of indigenous people aged 15 years or over in 2002 reported a disability or long-term health condition. On law and order, there was a decline in the numbers of indigenous people who reported having been arrested in the previous five years from 20 per cent in 1994 to 16 per cent in 2002. And compared with 1994, indigenous people in 2002 were almost twice as likely to report that they had been a victim of violence in the previous 12 months, a likely result of awareness campaigns. The numbers of indigenous people who reported having been arrested at least once in the previous five years declined by about one-fifth from 1994, where it was 20 per cent. In 2002, it had fallen to 16 per cent. The figures show an average weekly income of $394 for Aboriginal people compared with $665 for non-indigenous people across Australia. Source: The Australian related links :
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