Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2011

Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2011 was released on 25 August 2011.

In April 2002, the Council of Australian Governments commissioned the Steering Committee to produce a regular report against key indicators of Indigenous disadvantage. This report has an important long-term objective. It is to inform Australian governments about whether policies and programs are achieving positive outcomes for Indigenous people. This will help guide where further work is needed.

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Download the overview booklet

Overview - Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2011 (PDF - 3649 Kb)

Download the report

Chapters
Media release
Factsheets
Errata

Preliminaries (PDF - 330 Kb)
Cover, Copyright, Foreword, Contents, Acronyms and Abbreviations, Glossary and Terms of reference.
Overview (PDF - 601 Kb)

Chapter 4 COAG targets and headline indicators

Chapter 5 Early child development

Chapter 6 Education and training

Chapter 7 Healthy lives

Chapter 8 Economic participation

Chapter 9 Home environment

Chapter 10 Safe and supportive communities

Chapter 11 Governance and leadership

Chapter 12 Outcomes for Torres Strait Islander people

Chapter 13 Measuring multiple disadvantage

Appendix 1 COAG Communiqués

Appendix 1 only (PDF - 170 Kb)

Appendix 2 Implementation of the framework

Appendix 2 only (PDF - 244 Kb)

Appendix 3 Indigenous population and language use

Appendix 4 Data limitations

Appendix 4 only (PDF - 183 Kb)

Appendix 5 Measures and data sources

Appendix 5 only (PDF - 228 Kb)

References

References (PDF - 163 Kb)

Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Latest Data

The latest Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report was released on 25 August. This is the most recent in a series of reports commissioned by the Council of Australian Governments in 2002, to track the extent to which government policies and programs are making a difference to the lives of Indigenous Australians.

Gary Banks, who chairs the inter-governmental Steering Committee responsible for the report, said 'the latest data still reveal considerable disparities in outcomes between Indigenous and other Australians. This applies across the six COAG 'closing the gap' targets, as well as for over 40 other significant indicators. And progress in closing those gaps has been mixed'.

Of the 45 quantitative indicators in the report, available data show improvement in outcomes for 13 indicators — including in employment, educational attainment and home ownership. For 10 indicators, including many health and school education outcomes, there has been no significant improvement, while for another seven, including social indicators such as criminal justice, outcomes have actually deteriorated.

The report reflects ongoing improvements in data collections, but data to measure change over time were not available for one third of the indicators in this edition. Gary Banks strongly supported governments' commitment to improving data availability and quality. He also praised the contributions of all those who participated in report consultations, from within government and the wider community, particularly Indigenous people.

The report is a product of the Review of Government Service Provision. It is overseen by a Steering Committee comprising senior officials from the Australian, State and Territory governments and supported by a secretariat from the Productivity Commission.

The following errata have been issued for Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2011 . The chapters and appendices on the website have been amended to reflect these errata.

Overview

The paragraph on employment on page 5 of the overview has been amended — an apparent increase in the employment to population ratio for Indigenous people (from 50.7 per cent to 53.8 per cent) was not statistically significant.

The first key message in box 10 on page 23 has been amended — an apparent increase in the employment to population ratio for Indigenous people (from 50.7 per cent to 53.8 per cent) was not statistically significant.

Chapter 4: COAG Targets and headline indicators

The first key message in box 4.6.1 on page 4.59 and related text on page 4.63 have been amended — an apparent increase in the employment to population ratio for Indigenous people (from 50.7 per cent to 53.8 per cent) was not statistically significant.

Figure 4.6.2 on page 4.64 was incorrectly based on data for 2004-05, which has now been revised to 2008.

Errata — Chapter 4 COAG Targets and headline indicators pp. 4.59 to 4.64 (PDF - 172 Kb) | (Word - 80 Kb)

Chapter 8: Economic participation

Data in the first paragraph on page 8.8 on COAG’s target for Indigenous public sector employment and the proportion of Indigenous people in the Australian public sector have been corrected.

Errata — Chapter 8 Economic participation p. 8.8 (PDF - 74 Kb) | (Word - 60 Kb)

Chapter 9: Home environment

Data for the ACT and Tasmania in the second bullet point under figure 9.1.1 on page 9.8 have been corrected.

Errata — Chapter 9 Home environment p. 9.8 (PDF - 32 Kb) | (Word - 55 Kb)