APO Research

Experimental estimates and projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 1991 to 2021
Australian Bureau of Statistics 14 September, 2009 Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) population is projected to reach between 713,300 and 721,100 people in 2021, according to this report.

Recognising and responding to Hepatitis C in Indigenous communities in Victoria
Stephen McNally, Robyne Latham Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society14 September, 2009 While the goal of increasing the number of people on treatment for hepatitis is necessary, there are many other critical issues which need to be addressed if the burden of hepatitis in Indigenous communities throughout Australia is to be reduced.

Indigenous languages - a national approach
Peter Garrett, Jenny Macklin Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts14 September, 2009 The new National Indigenous Languages Policy is aimed at keeping Indigenous languages alive and supporting Indigenous Australians to connect with their language, culture and country.

APO Research

Planning for growth: Indigenous population projections, 2006-31
Nicholas Biddle, John Taylor Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research14 July, 2009 Policy development in Indigenous affairs often proceeds with dated estimates of population and with little understanding of the likely impact of changing demographic parameters on future Indigenous population size and composition.

Scoping process issues in negotiating native title agreements
Delwyn Everard Native Title Research Unit, Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies13 July, 2009 This paper focuses on the process issues faced by Indigenous claimant groups and their negotiating teams throughout the varied phases of a native title negotiation.

Indigenous health and wellbeing: the importance of country
Cynthia Ganesharajah Native Title Research Unit, Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies13 July, 2009 A key aspect to improving Indigenous wellbeing is exploring the relationship between land and wellbeing.

The achievement of Australia's Indigenous students in PISA 2000 – 2006
Lisa De Bortoli, Sue Thomson Australian Council for Educational Research15 July, 2009 A sum

APO Research

Policing substance abuse in Indigenous communities
Matthew Willis Australian Institute of Criminology06 July, 2009 This report is from a workshop held in 2008 that provided a practical overview of law enforcement responses to substance abuse in Indigenous communities.

Bridges and barriers: addressing Indigenous incarceration and health
National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee02 July, 2009 Despite the investment by governments to reduce incarceration, Indigenous Australians have continued to fill our correction systems at alarmingly disproportionate rates, making up almost one quarter of Australian’s prison population and over half of Indigenous juveniles in corrective institutions.

Indigenous education and social policy development in NSW
Tessa Keenan Nura Gili Indigenous Programs09 July, 2009 This paper discusses the historical context of the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and the NSW Aboriginal Education Policy, and emphasises the need for culturally inclusive policies with relevant policy implementation strategies.

Overcoming Indigenous disadvantage: key indicators 2009
Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision Productivity Commission06 July, 2009 Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage 2009 is the fourth report in a series commissioned by heads of Australian governments in 2002, to provide regular reporting against key indicators of Indigenous disadvantage.

Beyond guarding ground - the case for a national Indigenous cultural authority
Terri Janke Australia Council for the Arts06 July, 2009 Over the past 20 years Indigenous Australians have called for greater recognition of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights.

Indigenous Population Projections, 2006-31
Nicholas Biddle, John Taylor Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research08 July, 2009 This paper models the national and regional population impacts of a continuation of existing mortality and fertility regimes compared to a situation where these converge. The effects of inter-regional migration are also considered.

Experimental estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Experimental estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2006
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has reached 517,000 or 2.5% of the total Australian population. The figures in this report are final estimates of the Indigenous population as at 30 June 2006. Posted 26-08-2008

(Im)mobility:

further thoughts on the nodal network model for regional population structures in north east Arnhem Land October 24 2007 Streaming Audio
—Frances Morphy (Fellow, CAEPR)

Abstract: The structure and dynamics of regional populations in remote Aboriginal Australia are little understood and under researched. Memmott et al. (2004: 1) remark that 'whereas larger scales of mobility are analysable (to a limited degree) using the statistical methodologies of demographers and using the gross census units of Statistical Divisions and ATSIC regions, there is a need to develop a greater understanding of smaller-scale regional characteristics.' One could add that much of the smaller scale research that has taken place has focused on the phenomenon of intra-regional mobility.

National Indigenous Times Issue 139 04 Oct 2007

How do you miss 73,000 Aboriginal people in a Census count?
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Indigenous Australians have been included in the national population count since 1971. But as it turns out, we missed a few. CHRIS GRAHAM reports on yet another fiddle in the fraud-filled world of Indigenous affairs.

EDITORIAL: When ‘whoops’ just won’t do
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Dr John Taylor’s work in uncovering the massive undercounting of the Aboriginal population by the Australian Bureau of Statistics should be applauded.

INVISIBLE ABORIGINAL: Out of sight, out of mind, out of pocket
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Dr John Taylor, the author of the now infamous Taylor report which revealed massive government underspending in the remote NT community of Wadeye, is a demographer with the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Officer could face charges over Wadeye teen death
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: A police officer who fatally shot an Aboriginal teenager during rioting at a remote Top End community could face fresh charges, an inquest heard on Monday.

Fed govt offers to fund fees
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The federal government offered a group of Aboriginal people legal funding to appear before a coronial inquest into Aboriginal deaths in Western Australia’s north after the state government refused.

Australia named as top ‘hot spot’ for vanishing languages
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Linguists alarmed at the unceasing extinction of many Indigenous languages have identified five global “hot spots” where the problem is worst, led by northern Australia and a region of South America.

Outback travel subsidy not good enough: report
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Sick people in regional and remote areas are not getting the medical attention they need because government travel subsidies are too stingy, a new report has found.

Spoken crossroad
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The federal government’s NT Indigenous intervention will spell the end for many Indigenous languages, Adelaide linguistics expert Rob Amery says.

Potential nuke dump site to be assessed
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: A fourth potential site for a radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory will be assessed for its suitability, Science Minister Julie Bishop said last week.

More child sex charges laid in WA community of Kalumburu
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Charges have been laid in the wake of fresh child sex abuse allegations in the remote and troubled West Australian Aboriginal community of Kalumburu, police say.

Light beer expected to escape ban
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: All but light beer sales are likely to be banned in an alcohol-ravaged Kimberley town after the local pub said it would not oppose plans for Western Australia’s strictest liquor licensing conditions.

Compensation for Stolen Generation urgent: Calma
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice commissioner Tom Calma has called for a national scheme to properly compensate all victims of the Stolen Generation.

Child care plan welcomed
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The federal government’s Indigenous Child Care Services Plan, designed to offer culturally appropriate early childhood services to Indigenous children, has been welcomed by the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC).

Siewert calls on WA, fed govt to repay stolen wages
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Tens of millions of dollars stolen from Aboriginal workers must be repaid by the West Australian and Commonwealth governments, Senator Rachel Siewert says.

Aboriginal art: the French connection
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: After fetching record prices in Australia, Aboriginal art is carving out a place on the art market in France, spurred by the opening last year of Paris’ Quai Branly museum of tribal arts.

31 charged in Aurukun riot
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Thirty-one people have been charged after a riot in the remote Queensland Aboriginal community of Aurukun in mid September.

‘Don’t give us Disneyland’: tourists
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Tourists visiting Indigenous communities don’t want a “Disneyland experience”, according to Aden Ridgeway, Executive Chairman of Indigenous Tourism Australia.

Cairns hearing into policing
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The Crime and Misconduct Commission will hold a one day public hearing in Cairns as part of its inquiry into policing in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities.

Researchers look to bush medicine for answers
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: NT research could lead to Aboriginal bush medicine being used to combat disease in agricultural crops.

Tiwi islands under threat : Greens
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: The Tiwi islands, off Darwin, are in danger of becoming a wasteland because of excessive land clearing, the Australian Greens say.

Building blocks for business
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: A new style of small business training designed especially for the needs and learning styles of Indigenous entrepreneurs has been successfully piloted on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Melbourne standard for Aboriginal art
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Australia’s first Code of Practice for galleries and retailers on Indigenous art has been launched by the City of Melbourne.

Education the key to empowerment
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Education leading to real jobs is the key to addressing the challenges faced by Aboriginal people in Australia today, according to a speaker at the recent Charles Darwin Symposium.

Trainees woo Gorge visitors
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Tourists are learning about the Mossman Gorge and Aboriginal culture from two formerly unemployed Indigenous locals, thanks to funded traineeships.

Rangers protecting our borders
Issue 139, October 4, 2007: Indigenous ranger groups in Northeast Arnhem Land have recently received a welcome boost from Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education with the introduction of on-the-job training by specialists in natural and cultural resource management.

Population Distribution

Population Distribution, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2006
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The five-yearly Census of Population and Housing is one of the most important sources of information about Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, providing a wide range of socioeconomic indicators, particularly for small areas. Posted 16-08-2007