Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 2087 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

On every other indicator of disadvantage, employment, imprisonment or arrest, on every other indicator of health status, such as the rate of diabetes, illegal substance abuse or the level of heart disease, indigenous Canberrans suffer exactly the same levels of disadvantage, the same levels of health problems, the same levels of unemployment and the same levels of educational disadvantage that afflict Aboriginal people in most other places in Australia.

I think there are some areas where we have managed to make some significant breakthroughs. Perhaps in relation to the retention rates of Aboriginal children at school, for instance, we here in Canberra are doing better than most other places in Australia, and the department of education, in particular, needs to be applauded for that. Perhaps it's a beacon for what can be achieved; that in relation to education we do have better retention rates, and that we have achieved for a significant number of Aboriginal children better educational outcomes than have been achieved elsewhere.

But if one were to do a study or an investigation of the truancy level here in the ACT, particularly at those early high school years, one would find a disproportionate number of Aboriginal children amongst the children that are truant, that do not attend school and that never complete high school. Of those children in that cohort of children who do not achieve academically or educationally, Aboriginal children would be seriously and significantly over represented.

In that regard, I am pleased to see that one of the initiatives that the government is pursuing through the budget is a demographic profile of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. This is something that is long overdue. Having doubled up with the multicultural community in the ACT for the purposes of this particular profile, I am not quite sure what can be achieved. I understand the allocation for this particular profile is $100,000. The profile is meant to be an assessment of the indigenous community here in the ACT.

One of the complaints that I regularly hear from members of the indigenous community in the ACT, and I think this complaint is acknowledged by members of the ACT public service at estimates hearings, is that nobody really knows in detail the demographic profile of indigenous people in the ACT. We are unclear about the level of unemployment or features of the unemployed indigenous people. We are not entirely clear about the housing issues affecting the indigenous population. We are not 100 per cent sure about those members of the indigenous community who do have a significant substance abuse problem.

We are aware of some of the frightening statistics presented to committees in this place by Winnunga Nimmityjah. Indigenous people, representing just under two per cent of the ACT population, represent at least 10 per cent of the heroin users in the ACT. That is an horrific statistic. We understand that to date in the ACT this year indigenous people represent, I think, about half the heroin overdose deaths that the ACT has suffered. These are horrific statistics. Despite representing one per cent of the ACT population, it may be that to date in the ACT indigenous people comprise half the heroin overdose deaths in the ACT.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .