Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victorians

What does the data tell us?How does this impact on VALS’ future

directions?

Victoria’s Aboriginal population is young and growing fast…

• Victoria’s recorded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population was 37,988 people out of a total Victorian population of 5,354,042. This equates to 0.7% of the population.

• Nationally the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is 2.5% of the total population.

• 6.9% of the nation’s ATSI people live in Victoria• ABS CENSUS 2011

A population that is younger and growing faster than the general community

Victoria’s Aboriginal young people

• The Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has a younger age distribution than the non-Indigenous population with a median age of 21 years in the 2011 Census, compared with 38 years for non-Indigenous people.

• More than one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are under 15 years of age.

Victoria’s Aboriginal population is growing fast

• Victoria’s ATSI population increased by 7,848 since the 2006 census

• This is a growth rate of 4.7% per annum, compared to a growth rate of 1.7% for Victoria’s general population.

• …and an increase of 26% since the 2006 census, a rate of growth exceeded only by the ACT.

• Note preliminary estimates adjusted for undercount indicate the ATSI population might be as high as 47,327. Final figures will be available in 2014.

Where do Aboriginal Victorian’s live?• 53.7% live in regional areas, 46.3% in metro

areas. • The distribution of the Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander population across Victoria is quite uneven, with relatively higher numbers of Aboriginal people living in a small number of local government areas.

MetroNon metro

LGAs with the greatest number of Aboriginal people

• Greater Shepparton- 2082• Mildura- 1836• Greater Geelong- 1788• Greater Bendigo- 1441• Casey- 1403• East Gippsland- 1353 • Darebin- 1156• Wyndham- 1144• Ballarat- 1140• Whittlesea-1125• Latrobe- 1055• Hume- 1046

Aboriginal populations in key regional towns -2011

Aboriginal populations in key centres in Greater Melbourne Metropolitan area, 2011

Justice outcomes

Up to 2010 adolescent contact with police reduced 

Over- representation in prison Victoria has performed well, but trending up

Aboriginal Victorians are 12.5 times as likely to be in prison

ABS: Prisoners in Australia, 2012 (cat. no. 4517.0).

Largest proportional increase in ATSI imprisonment rate was found in Victoria (15%)

Average daily ATSI imprisonment rate

                                                           

ABS: - Corrective Services, Australia, March Quarter 2013  (CAT NO 4512.0) 

Other social and economic indicators

Key trends in Victoria which may have contributed to improved Koori justice outcomes between 2005 and 2011 have been:

• In 2002, 31.8% of Koori Victorians reported having used substances in the last 12 months. By 2008 this had reduced to 27.5%

• Koori labour force participation in Victoria has risen from 56.9% in 2006 to 66.3% in 2010 • Attendance at social activities, sporting and physical recreation activities and cultural activities

have improved amongst Koori Victorians, by 1%, 13% and 13% respectively. • School retention from year 7 to 12 has increased from 38.4% in 2006 to 46.9% in 2011 plus many

Victorian Indigenous students also enrolled in TAFE courses• In2012 37.7% of Aboriginal students in Year 12 went on to university compared to 27.7% in 2006.

Key trends in Victoria that may have negatively impacted Koori justice outcomes:

• Risky/high risk alcohol use in the Victorian Koori community rose from 33.8% in 2002 to 39% in 2008

• Koori unemployment in Victoria has risen from 15.8% in 2006 to 16.3% in 2010, although this is explained by rising labour force participation.

• Most Koories overall have completed part Secondary schooling only: 91.3% of males and 85% of females.

• Child protection substations increased from 56.6 per 1000 children in 2006 to 62.5 in 2012

Family violence incidence

Family Violence Regional and Metropolitan break down

Family Violence Offenders by gender and age

Family Violence Victims by gender and age

VALS’ clients – numbers and trends

• Assistance• Casework• Criminal, Civil and Family• Location• Age and gender breakdown

VALS - Case Opens by Gender - Criminal Law

2012 Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Q3 2012 Q4 2013 Q1 2013 Q20

100

200

300

400

500

600

FemaleMale

Cases O

pened

VALS -Case Opens by Gender - Family and Civil Law

2012 Q1 2012 Q2 2012 Q3 2012 Q4 2013 Q1 2013 Q20

10

20

30

40

50

60

Female - CivilMale - CivilFemale - FamilyMale - Family

Cases O

pened

VALS -D24 Calls by Age Range by Month

2013 01 2013 02 2013 03 2013 04 2013 05 2013 06 2013 070

50

100

150

200

250

0 to 910 to 1415 to 1819 to 2425 to 3435 to 4445 to 5455 PlusD2

4 Calls per Month

Concluding points• The Aboriginal population is proportionally small when compared to the total Victorian

population, but growing at a faster rate • Aboriginal Victorians are more likely to live in regional Victoria that non-Aboriginal

Victorians • Population is young and it is young people who are more likely to have contact with the

justice system• The rate of imprisonment has grown 15%, the highest in the country in the year to

March 2013• Non-metropolitan regions have seen increases in the proportion of Koories that were

sentenced to community based orders compared to prison. However, the reverse occurred in large metropolitan regions what year

• Indigenous males in custody increased 7% and females 12% in the year to March 2013• The rate of imprisonment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners nationally

was 15 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous prisoners at 30 June 2012; Victoria 12.5 times higher.

• Risky/high risk alcohol use in the Victorian Koori community rose from 33.8% in 2002 to 39% in 2008

• Aboriginal young people are far more likely to be remanded – 30% compared to 22%