New data reveals child protection, incarceration and suicide rates getting worse
The rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people imprisoned increased by 12% in a year and was up 20% since 2019 – despite state and federal governments agreeing to reduce rates of incarnation by 15% by 2031 in June 2020.
Indigenous organisations have urged greater action from all governments to improve the lives of Indigenous people after new Closing the Gap data revealed child protection, Indigenous incarceration and suicide rates were getting worse.
Overall, the data showed four targets were on track to be met. Six targets showed improvement but were not on track to be met. Four targets were worsening while a further four targets were not able to be assessed.
The rate of Indigenous incarceration in 2024 was 2,304 per 100,000, compared with 1,906 per 100,000 in 2019 and 2,042 in 2023.
First Nation children in out-of-home care increased from 47.3 per 1,000 in 2019 to 50.3 per 1,000 in 2024. The rate of suicide among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reached 30.8 per 100,000 in 2023, the highest recorded since 2018, though researchers said there were caveats due to changes in population data.
The most recent population data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded a 25% increase in the Indigenous population between 2017 and 2021, while the Northern Territory recorded a decline in population.
Productivity commissioner Selwyn Button said the Closing the Gap data showed “the importance of governments taking their commitments to the national agreement seriously, and taking meaningful actions to fully implement the priority reforms”.
“Governments need to get better at sharing power and decision-making with community control organisations – being able to sit at the table to plan, design and implement strategies, sitting alongside community and community controlled organisations,” Button said.
The commissioner said some caution of the data is needed, such as with suicide rates and the NT which showed many targets are going backwards such as worsening female life expectancy, birth weight, Indigenous early childhood education and child development, youth engagement, employment, and child and adult imprisonment rates.
The latest update pointed to an increase in Aboriginal people’s access to internet, with nine in 10 or just over 88% of Indigenous people aged 15 and over using the web daily.
It also showed gains in native title and land rights, with just under 4.5m sq km of Australia’s land mass and more than 110,000 sq km of Australia’s sea country being under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s rights or interests.
“Native title determinations are happening more frequently, and land hand backs to traditional owner groups from state governments are happening more as well which is contributing to that data.”
Justice advocacy group Change the Record’s national director, Blake Cansdale, said he was concerned some jurisdictions’ “tough on crime” approach was contributing to more interactions between law enforcement and First Nations people.
“The gross overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody is unequivocal evidence of successive governments failing our people across the nation,” Candsale said.
“This serves the interests of nobody other than politicians that espouse such positions; we need to focus on primary health-based and social supports that address the underlying sociocultural, emotional and economic causes of offending behaviour,” the Anaiwan man said.
Lead convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, Pat Turner, who negotiated the national agreement on Closing the Gap with the Morrison government and states and territories, welcomed progress in key reforms but said there was still a long way to go.
“The growing recognition of our land and sea rights and increased digital access show what is possible when the right policies and investments are made,” Turner said.
But in critical areas such as incarceration, child protection and suicide prevention Turner said there were clear “setbacks” and urged a “deeper understanding” between Australian governments and Aboriginal-controlled organisations working with community.
“Governments must step up and fully implement the priority reforms of the Closing the Gap agreement.
“If we are to achieve lasting change, the solutions must be led by us, not imposed upon us.”