Landmark report - Indigenous people

A landmark report to be released today shows there is still a long way to go when it comes to improving Indigenous disadvantage.

The Productivity Commission report shows there has been an alarming jump in the number of Indigenous people being jailed and self harming, and while life expectancy and child mortality rates have improved, the rates of disability and chronic disease remain high.

In a statement, the productivity commission said the 2014 Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (OID) report showed "some positive trends in the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, with improvements in health, education and economic outcomes".

But it said results in areas such as justice and mental health continued to cause concern.

Peter Harris, chairman of the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, said the OID paper served as a "public report card". 

"It can help governments assess the effectiveness of current policies and inform the development of new approaches," he said.

"It can assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to hold governments to account, and to develop their own responses to the disadvantage that limits the opportunities of too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians."

Mr Harris said "several health outcomes [had] improved, including increased life expectancy and lower child mortality. However, rates of disability and chronic disease remain high, mental health outcomes have not improved, and hospitalisation rates for self-harm have increased". 

Hospitalisations for intentional self-harm increased by 48 per cent from 2004-05 to 2012-13, while the report found the proportion of adults reporting high or very high levels of psychological distress increased from 27 per cent to 30 per cent for the same period.

But it is not all bad news, with the gap in life expectancy narrowing from 11.4 years to 10.6 years for males and from 9.6 years to 9.5 for females from 2005-2007 until 2010-2012.

Mortality rates for children improved significantly, particularly in the 0-1 year age group, where rates more than halved.

Report card captures mixed results

Mr Harris said economic outcomes improved over the longer term "with higher incomes, lower reliance on income support, increased home ownership, and higher rates of full-time and professional employments," but added that improvements had slowed in recent years.

There was an improvement in post-secondary education outcomes, but almost no change in literacy and numeracy results, "which are particularly poor in remote areas", Mr Harris said.

The report found the number of 20-24 year olds completing year 12 or above increased from 45 per cent in 2008 to 59 per cent in 2012-13.

There was also an increase in the proportion of 20-64 year olds with, or working towards, post-school qualifications.

The report recorded little or no change in the proportion of students achieving national minimum standards for reading, writing and numeracy from 2008 until 2013.

Justice outcomes continued to deteriorate, "with adult imprisonment rates worsening from already high rates," Mr Harris said.

Juvenile detention rates also increased dramatically between 2000-01 and 2007-08, and "fluctuated since at around 24 times the rate for non-Indigenous youth".

The adult imprisonment rate which rose 57 per cent between 2000 and 2013.

Rates of family and community violence "were unchanged between 2002 and 2008, and there was little change in alcohol and substance use and harm over time".