The Indigenous Australian population is a mostly urbanised
demographic, but a substantial number (27%%) live in remote settlements
often located on the site of former church missions.

The health and economic difficulties facing both groups are
substantial.

Both the remote and urban populations have adverse ratings on a number
of social indicators, including health, education, unemployment,
poverty and crime.

In 2004 former Prime Minister John Howard initiated contracts with
Aboriginal communities, where substantial financial benefits are
available in return for commitments such as ensuring children wash
regularly and attend school.

These contracts are known as Shared Responsibility Agreements. This
saw a political shift from 'self determination' for Aboriginal
communities to 'mutual obligation', which has been criticised as a
"paternalistic and dictatorial arrangement". The "Mutual Obligation"
concept was introduced for all Australians in receipt of welfare
benefits and who are not disabled or elderly. Notably, just prior to a
federal election being called, John Howard in a Speech at the Sydney
Institute on October 11 2007 acknowledged some of the failures of the
previous policies of his government and said "We must recognise the
distinctiveness of Indigenous identity and culture and the right of
Indigenous people to preserve that heritage. The crisis of Indigenous
social and cultural disintegration requires a stronger affirmation of
Indigenous identity and culture as a source of dignity, self-esteem
and pride."

The Stolen Generations were those children of Australian Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their
families by the Australian and State government agencies and church
missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals
occurred in the period between approximately 1869 and 1969, although,
in some places, children were still being taken in the 1970s.

On February 13, 2008, the federal government of Australia, led by
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, issued a formal apology to the Indigenous
Australians over the Stolen Generations,

Health
In 2002 data collected on health status reported that Indigenous
Australians were twice as likely as non-indigenous people to report
their health as fair/poor and one-and-a-half times more likely to have
a disability or long-term health condition (after adjusting for
demographic structures). In 1996–2001, the life expectancy of an
Indigenous Australian was 59.4 years for males and, in 2004-05, 65.0
years for females, approximately 17 years lower than the Australian
average.

Health problems with the highest disparity (compared with the non-
Indigenous population) in incidence are outlined in the table below:

Health problem Comparative incidence rate Comment

Dementia 26-fold 26 times more likely to develop dementia than the
rest of the Australian population and in some cases, an earlier onset
of symptoms

Circulatory system diseases 2 to 10-fold 5 to 10-fold increase in
rheumatic heart disease and hypertensive disease, 2-fold increase in
other heart disease, 3-fold increase in death from circulatory system
disorders.

Circulatory system diseases account for 24%% of total indigenous deaths

Diabetes 3 to 4-fold 11%% incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in Indigenous
Australians, 3%% in non-Indigenous population. 7 to 10 times more
deaths in Aboriginals from diabetes than expected. 18%% of total
indigenous deaths

Chronic kidney disease 2 to 3-fold 2 to 3-fold increase in listing on
the dialysis and transplant registry, up to 30-fold increase in end
stage renal disease, 8-fold increase in death rates from kidney
disease, 2.5%% of total indigenous deaths

Neoplasms (Cancer) 60%% increase in death rate 60%% increased death rate
from cancers. In 1999-2003, neoplasms accounted for 17%% of all
Aboriginal deaths

Respiratory disease 3 to 4-fold 3 to 4-fold increased death rate from
respiratory disease accounting for 8%% of total indigenous deaths

Communicable diseases Up to 70-fold 10-fold increase in tuberculosis,
Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C virus, 20-fold increase in Chlamydia, 40-
fold increase in Shigellosis and Syphilis, 70-fold increase in
Gonococcal infections

External Causes 3-fold increase in fatalities Of Indigenous fatal
injuries, 24%% are from suicide, 26%% from motor vehicle accidents and
17%% from assault. Combined, external causes account for 16%% of all
Indigenous deaths

Vision problems 2-fold A 2-fold increase in cataracts
Oral health 2-fold increase 2-fold increase in children with dental
decay

Mental health 2 to 5-fold 5-fold increase in drug-induced mental
disorders, 2-fold increase in
schizophrenia, 2 to 3-fold increase in suicide, 3-fold increase in
death rate

Infant mortality 2 to 3-fold Over the period 1999–2003, in Queensland,
Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, the
national infant mortality rate for Indigenous infants was three times
the rate for non-Indigenous infants

Each of these indicators is expected to underestimate the true
prevalence of disease in the Indigenous population due to reduced
levels of diagnosis.

The following factors have been at least partially implicated in the
racial inequality in life expectancy:

poverty (low income)
poor education
substance abuse (smoking, alcohol, illicit drugs, glue, petrol
for remote communities poor access to health services including
immunisation
for urbanised Indigenous Australians, social pressures which prevent
access to health services
cultural differences resulting in poor communication between
Indigenous Australians and health workers.
exposure to violence or other types of abuse

Additional problems are created by the reluctance of many rural
indigenous people to leave their homelands to access medical treatment
in larger urban areas, particularly when they have need for on-going
treatments such as dialysis. However, in some categories of health
problems, Aboriginal people living in remote areas have better health
outcomes than those in urban areas. The difference is particularly
striking in mental health -- living on traditional lands appears to
produce better mental health outcomes.

Successive Federal Governments have responded to the problem by
implementing programs such as the Office of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Health (OATSIH). There have been some small successes,
such as the reduction of infant mortality since the 1970s (down to
twice the non-Indigenous levels in 1996-2001), effected by bringing
health services into indigenous communities, but on the whole the
problem remains unsolved.

According to Western Australian Office of Aboriginal Health Abriginal
Australians face a large number of health issues due to their living
conditions. In Western Australia, respiratory, gastrointestinal,
infectious and parasitic diseases are disproportionately higher among
Aboriginal people, especially the young. Factors that put Aboriginal
people, especially those residing in rural and remote areas at a
higher risk of poor health are related to inadequate housing or
harmful levels of community or personal hygiene. A survey of
communities in Western Australia reported large problems with water
supply and sanitation problems, overcrowding and substandard housing,
waste-water disposal problems and the absence of rubbish disposal that
resulted in a high prevalence of vermin and pests and a lack of
personal hygiene (ABS & AIHW, 2003). Other factors include poor
nutrition, obesity, substance abuse and exposure to violence.

Education
Indigenous students as a group leave school earlier, and live with a
lower standard of education, compared with their non-indigenous peers.
Although the situation is slowly improving (with significant gains
between 1994 and 2004), both the levels of participation in education
and training among Indigenous Australians and their levels of
attainment remain well below those of non-Indigenous Australians.

39%% of indigenous students stayed on to year 12 at high school,
compared with 75%% for the Australian population as a whole. ABS
22%% of indigenous adults had a vocational or higher education
qualification, compared with 48%% for the Australian population as a
whole. ABS
4%% of Indigenous Australians held a bachelor degree or higher,
compared with 21%% for the population as a whole. While this fraction
is increasing, it is increasing at a slower rate than that for non-
Indigenous Australians. ABS

In response to this problem, the Commonwealth Government formulated a
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy. A
number of government initiatives have resulted, some of which are
listed by the Commonwealth Government's Indigenous Education page.

Crime
An Indigenous Australian is 11 times more likely to be in prison than
a non-Indigenous Australian, and in June 2004, 21%% of prisoners in
Australia were Indigenous. This over-representation of Indigenous
Australians in prisons was drawn to public attention by the Royal
Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Violent crime, including domestic and sexual abuse, is a problem in
many communities. Indigenous Australians are twice as likely to be a
victim of violence than non-Indigenous Australians, with 24%% of
Indigenous Australians reported being a victim of violence in
2001.This is consistent with hospitalisation data showing higher rates
of injury due to assault.

An estimated three in five children have suffered some kind of sexual
abuse in the southeast Queensland Aboriginal community of Cherbourg.
In May, 2006, Alice Springs crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers abuse in
Aboriginal communities a "National problem". Australia-wide,
Indigenous Australian children are 20-fold overrepresented in the
juvenile corrective service and 20-fold more likely to be involved in
child abuse and neglect cases.

In August 2007, the government announced the Northern Territory
National Emergency Response, a package of welfare reform, law
enforcement and other measures designed to address endemic levels of
child abuse in the Northern Territory. Legislation was rushed through
Parliament in support of the measures. Critics of the Intervention
claim that it does not address the problem, but reduces land rights of
the Aboriginal communities. Others supported the tough stance on child
abuse.

Unemployment and housing
According to the 2001 Census, an Indigenous Australian is almost three
times more likely to be unemployed (20.0%% unemployment) than a non-
Indigenous Australian (7.6%%). The difference is not solely due to the
increased proportion of Indigenous Australians living in rural
communities, for unemployment is higher in Indigenous Australian
populations living in urban centres (Source: ABS). The average
household income for Indigenous Australian populations is 60%% of the
non-Indigenous average. Indigenous Australians are 6-fold more likely
to be homeless, 15-fold more likely to be living in improvised
dwellings, and 25-fold more likely to be living with 10 or more
people.

Substance abuse

Signpost outside Yirrkala, NT, where kava was introduced as a safer
alternative to alcohol, but was withdrawn in 2007.Many Indigenous
communities suffer from a range of health and social problems
associated with substance abuse of both legal and illegal drugs. This
is due to a lack of awareness and services available.

Alcohol consumption within Indigenous communities is seen as a
significant issue, as are the domestic violence and associated issues
resulting from the behaviour such as incest and gang rape. A large
2004-05 health survey by the ABS found that the proportion of the
Indigenous adult population engaged in 'risky' and 'high-risk' alcohol
consumption (15%%) was comparable with that of the non-Indigenous
population (14%%), based on age-standardised data.

The same health survey found that, after adjusting for age differences
between the two populations, Indigenous adults were more than twice as
likely as non-Indigenous adults to be current daily smokers of
tobacco.

One study by the Australian National Commission on Drugs (ANCD)
published in 2002 attributes the "public misperception of high alcohol
use [in Indigenous communities]" to "the disproportionate level of
harm caused (to the individual and community) by those drinking at
very high levels in public" (ANCD 2002:p.2). Even so, other studies
have indicated that those in the Indigenous communities who do drink
excessively are at greater risk of harm (to themselves and others)
than similar-level alcohol consumers in the wider population

To combat the problem, a number of programs to prevent or mitigate
against alcohol abuse have been attempted in different regions, many
initiated from within the communities themselves. These strategies
include such actions as the declaration of "Dry Zones" within
indigenous communities, prohibition and restriction on point-of-sale
access, and community policing and licensing. Some communities
(particularly in the Northern Territory) introduced kava as a safer
alternative to alcohol, as over-indulgence in kava produces
sleepiness, in contrast to the violence that can result from over-
indulgence in alcohol. These and other measures met with variable
success, and while a number of communities have seen decreases in
associated social problems caused by excessive drinking, others
continue to struggle with the issue and it remains an ongoing concern.
The ANCD study notes that in order to be effective, programs in
general need also to address "...the underlying structural
determinants that have a significant impact on alcohol and drug
misuse" (Op. cit., p.26). In 2007, Kava was banned in the Northern
Territory.

Petrol sniffing is also a problem among some remote Indigenous
communities. Petrol vapour produces euphoria and dulling effect in
those who inhale it, and due to its relatively low price and
widespread availability, is an increasingly popular substance of
abuse. Proposed solutions to the problem are a topic of heated debate
among politicians and the community at large. In 2005 this problem
among Aboriginal communities was considered so serious that a new
petrol Opal was distributed across the Northern Territory to combat
it. Opal petrol does not give the 'high' that regular petrol does.

Political representation
See also: Voting rights of Australian Aboriginals
Under Section 41 of the Australian Constitution Aboriginals always had
the legal right to vote in Australian Commonwealth elections if their
State granted them that right. This meant that all Aborigines outside
Queensland and Western Australia had a legal right to vote. Indigenous
Australians gained the unqualified right to vote in Federal elections
in 1962. It was not until 1967 that they were counted in the
population for the purpose of distribution of electoral seats. Only
two Indigenous Australians have been elected to the Australian
Parliament, Neville Bonner (1971-1983) and Aden Ridgeway (1999-2005).
There are currently no Indigenous Australians in the Australian
Parliament.

ATSIC, the representative body of Aborigine and Torres Strait
Islanders, was set up in 1990 under the Hawke government. In 2004, the
Howard government disbanded ATSIC and replaced it with an appointed
network of 30 Indigenous Coordination Centres that administer Shared
Responsibility Agreements and Regional Partnership Agreements with
Aboriginal communities at a local level.

In October 2007, just prior to the calling of a federal election, the
then Prime Minister, John Howard, advocated a referendum to recognise
Indigenous Australians in the Constitution. Reaction to his surprising
adoption of the importance of the symbolic aspects of the
reconciliation process, was mixed. The ALP supported the idea. Some
sections of the Australian public and media suggested it was a cynical
attempt in the lead-up to an election to whitewash Mr Howard's poor
handling of this issue during his term in office. David Ross (Central
Land Council) said "its a new skin for an old snake." (ABC radio 12
October 2007)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australian#Issues_facing_Indigenous_Australians_today