Australia
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a life expectancy up to 17 years shorter than non-Indigenous Australians and experience higher rates of illness and imprisonment, and lower levels of education.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images or names of people who have since passed away.
Australia: the facts
Health services are commonly located out of reach of Indigenous communities. Indigenous Australians are more likely to experience heart and kidney disease and have 10 times the prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Infant mortality and malnourishment rates are twice as high for Indigenous children compared to non-Indigenous children, and 61 percent of Indigenous Australians are obese, compared to 48 percent of the remaining Australian population. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men experience suicide rates which are 40 percent higher than other male Australians.
Just 38 percent of Indigenous students complete year 12, compared to 76 percent of non-Indigenous children.
Indigenous Australians are being imprisoned at a rate 17 times higher than non-Indigenous Australians, and this rate is increasing. In 1991, Indigenous Australians accounted for 14 percent of the prison population and this had risen to 25 percent by 2008. In some rural areas, one-third of all Indigenous males will go to prison at some stage of their lives.
Juvenile detention rates are even more unequal. Between 1994 and 2008, the number of non-Indigenous youth (10-17 years) in detention decreased from 24 to 18 per 100,000. However, over the same period, the number of Indigenous youth in detention rose from 413 to 420 per 100,000.
Between 1910 and 1970, as many as 100,000 Indigenous children, known as the Stolen Generations, were forcibly removed from their families by the Australian Government. Most were of mixed descent (i.e. one Indigenous and one non-Indigenous parent) and were never told they were Aboriginal. Many of these children were raised in government and Church missions or by foster parents and were totally removed from their culture, language and people. The girls were generally trained as domestic servants and the boys became stockmen.
Caritas in Australia
Through our 9 local partners Caritas Australia implemented 10 projects in Australia in 2010/2011. A total of $960,520 was spent on projects covering a variety of issues including Advocacy, Women’s Empowerment, Youth Skills Building and Leadership, Health, Financial Management Support, Microenterprise Development and After-school Children’s activities and care.
Snapshot of our recent work
- Red Dust Healing, a cultural healing program written from an Indigenous perspective, helped empower participants from 10 Australian communities to understand past and present hurt and rejection. It has equipped them with appropriate tools to change themselves and contribute to their families and community life.
- Tjanpi Desert Weavers supports more than 300 weavers from 28 communities with culturally appropriate employment opportunities. 98 female artists from 4 remote areas undertook organised weaving and training in governance and business practices. 20 workshops were also held in Alice Springs with 100 artists receiving casual employment.
- Caritas Australia funded a scoping study for the establishment of an Aboriginal Carbon Fund in the Northern Territory. The study revealed that the development of carbon economies on Aboriginal lands (including traditional land management practices such as early season savannah burning) will assist to alleviate poverty and help deliver a range of benefits to Aboriginal people.