National Aboriginal Alliance federal intervention database

This article by Ashleigh Wilson appeared in the Australian yesterday.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22683713-5013404,00.html

INDIGENOUS people continue to fall behind on a range of key health, crime and education statistics, with Aborigines accounting for just under half the number of deaths recorded in the Northern Territory in one year, despite making up just over 25per cent of the population.

Indigenous people also make up more than 90 per cent of people put in protective custody.

A statistical snapshot of the Territory, released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, reveals that indigenous participation in education decreased with each school year. The grim statistics come four months after the Howard Government launched its intervention in the Territory, responding to a report revealing a
high rate of child abuse and "rivers of grog" in Aboriginal communities.

According to the ABS, indigenous people made up 46.1 per cent of the 985 deaths in the Territory in 2005, even though census figures from the following year showed that the Aboriginal population there was
just 27.8percent.

Aborigines were also highly over-represented when it came to law and order, with 94.1 per cent of the 26,315 intoxicated people taken into protective custody in the Territory last year indigenous. The apprehension rate had risen more than 20 per cent since 2002.

When admitted to hospital, Aboriginal people were likely to have more than two diseases (or an average of 2.6) associated with their visit, compared to an average of 1.2 diseases for non-indigenous people.

The ABS also reveals that only 8 per cent of people in higher education were indigenous. There was a smaller disparity in vocational education and training, with 42.4 per cent indigenous enrolments. But Aborigines were more likely to drop out of school as Year 12 approached.

"Generally, as the school level increased, indigenous student participation decreased," the report said.

And while the NT economy continues to grow, with gross state product rising 32 per cent from $8.67 billion in 2003-04 to $11.476 billion in 2005-06, and unemployment falls in all regions, new businesses find it harder to stay afloat there than in any other state or territory.

The report said new businesses starting up during 2003-04 had a 50.6 chance of surviving. The next lowest rate was the ACT's 56.6 per cent and the highest was 63 per cent, in Tasmania.

And while a large portion of the rise in median incomes between 2001 and 2006 was attributed to people employed in the mining sector, the report said only 2 per cent of the Territory workforce was employed in the industry.

The official population of the Territory, at June 30 last year was 210,674 people, with an annual growth rate of 1.3 per cent over the previous five years.