The relative economic status of Indigenous people in the Australian Capital Territory, 1991 and 1996

Abstract

Census data remain the primary source of information on the economic status of Indigenous people in the Australian Capital Territory, but their utility as a tool of public policy analysis is limited. This is because the economic characteristics of individuals who identified as Indigenous in 1991 cannot be re-calibrated in 1996. As a consequence, the fundamental question of whether circumstances for Indigenous people who identified in the 1991 Census were any better or worse in 1996 cannot be answered. The best that can be done is to estimate aggregate characteristics for the initial population using Australian Bureau of Statistics experimental population estimates derived from reverse survival procedures. This, at least, has the effect of properly aligning data levels for time series analysis.

It should be noted that, as long as the census question on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origins remains the sole means of comprehensively defining the Indigenous population, it is possible that the numbers identified in this way will continue to rise steadily due to improved enumeration, changes in identification and the flow-on effects of inter-marriage. At a time of growing pressure for targeted service delivery that is cost-effective and based on demonstrated need, this prospect of an ever-expanding Indigenous population requires careful consideration.

Leaving aside these complexities of data collection, a key policy question that can be addressed from cross-sectional examination of census data is whether growth of the population identified by the census question on Indigenous origins has resulted in any improvement at the aggregate level in the absolute and relative economic status of Indigenous people in the Australian Capital Territory. Show more