Governments should spend taxpayer’s money on Aboriginal development where it is most needed

As with other areas of policy relating to Aboriginal people in remote regions the response of government has been to remain mute.

Over the last 10 years, the number of Australians identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander has increased sharply, by 43 per cent. Growth in major cities and inner regional areas (29% and 28% respectively) was higher than the growth in remote and very remote areas (1% and 2% respectively).

This has had a major skewing effect on the delivery of government policy and expenditure on Aboriginal programs.

As pointed out by the Centre of Independent Studies, - of the Indigenous people in Australia identified in the 2011 Census, approximately 65% were in employment and living lives not noticeably different from the rest of Australia. Twenty two per cent were welfare dependent and living in urban and regional areas with other welfare dependent Australians. However, 70, 000 were welfare dependent and living on Indigenous land in remote regions, where education was limited, infrastructure poor and where there were very few employment opportunities.

Without doubt it is this group who experience the most disadvantage and who require the most government support. Yet most Indigenous government programs continue to treat Indigenous people as one, very similar group and fail to take into account the fundamental differences between Indigenous peoples, according to level of need.

Despite this many Indigenous people living with cities in major urban centres attempt to speak on behalf of, and represent the political interests, of those living in remote regions.

However, many urban Aboriginal activists have had little or no experience of the severe privations, poverty, violence and associated social problems existing within remote communities of Australia. As a result, despite increasing resources being directed towards Indigenous Australians, there has been very little improvement in outcomes, and the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians have not narrowed and in some cases, increased – particularly in remote regions.

In the 2016 Census, the latest figures available, there were nearly 650, 000 people across Australia who identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.

The majority (81%) lived in non-remote areas of Australia.

In the Northern Territory, just under 25% of the population identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the 2016 Census. In all other States and Territories, 5% or less of the population were of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. Victoria had the lowest proportion at 0.8% of the State total.

In the 2016 Census, over one-third (35%) of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population lived in Capital City areas. States with relatively high proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Capital Cities include South Australia (54%) and Victoria (50%). In NSW, 32% of the population identifying as Indigenous lived within Greater Sydney. In contrast, 78% of the population who identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the Northern Territory lived outside the Capital City area. Likewise, in Queensland, 71% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population lived outside of the Capital City area.

Looking at the distribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across remote areas in 2016 compared to 2011, we can see how the proportion of those identifying as Indigenous changed between regions. In 2016, there was an increase in the number of people identifying as Indigenous living in major cities and inner regional areas and an associated reduction in the proportion of Aboriginal people living in outer regional and remote areas. It is unlikely that many remote Aboriginal people could be expected to move to major urban centres to live.

In New South Wales and Queensland, where most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live, most people lived in major cities or regional areas. While a quarter of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Western Australia lived in very remote areas, most (40%) lived in major cities.