Closing the Gap between lndigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

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Contents

• Table of contents
• Closing the Gap
• The Policy Challenge
• First Steps in Closing the Gap
• Northern Territory Emergency Response
• Strengthening Indigenous Governance
• More Effective Government
• Going Forward
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2

First Steps in Closing the Gap

Safe Communities

Community safety is a critically important building block to a better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Many communities, however, have been left to their own devices without proper policing or enforcement of the law. Chaotic and violent communities will never have the future they deserve.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Northern Territory Police shows that Indigenous Australians are far more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to be the subject of violence, including murder and assault. Indigenous children are many more times likely than non-Indigenous children to be under care and protection orders or in out-of-home care.

The COAG Working Group on Indigenous Reform is currently developing a sustainable reform proposal that will contribute to the safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Future Australian Government expenditure in this area will be guided by the work done through COAG. In addition, the Standing Group of Attorneys-General is developing a National Indigenous Law and Justice Framework which will provide a genuinely national approach to responding to community safety issues.

As part of an Australian Federal Policing Plan, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) will be working to recruit more Indigenous trainees, developing educational programs on policing in Indigenous communities, and boosting the profile and work of AFP officers in Indigenous communities through community activities. The AFP will also convene a national forum to coordinate the recruitment of Indigenous Australians into Federal and State police agencies.

Table 2: Substantiated child abuse notifications: number and rates per 1000 children aged 0-16 years by Indigenous status and State and Territory, 2006-07

	Number of children			Rate per 1,000 children
	Indigenous	Other	Total	Indigenous	Other	Total
New South Wales	3,276	10,414	13,690	53.5	7.1	9
Victoria(a)	697	5,891	6,588	56.6	5.3	5.9
Queensland(b)	1,203	6,138	7,341	20.3	6.9	7.7
Western Australia	438	716	1,154	15	1.6	2.4
South Australia	439	1,314	1,753	39	4.1	5.3
Tasmania(c)(d)	31	768	799	4	7.5	7.2
Australian Capital Territory	75	483	558	41.3	6.9	7.8
Northern Territory	395	145	540	16.8	4.2	9.3
Australia	6,554	25,869	32,423	31.8	5.8	7

(a) Due to new service and data reporting arrangements, the Victorian child protection data for 2006–07 may not be fully comparable with previous years' data.
(b) 2006–07 data for Queensland are interim and will be revised in 2008.
(c) Data relating to substantiations in Tasmania for 2005-06 should be interpreted carefully due to the high proportion of investigations not finalised by 31 August 2006
(d) The high number of children in substantiation with an unknown Indigenous status in Tasmania makes the counts for both Indigenous children and other children unreliable.

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