Indigenous domestic violence rates ‘astronomical’ according to new report by Centre for Independent Studies

Analysis of disadvantage in Aboriginal communities finds domestic violence is a key factor separating remote Indigenous communities from the rest of Australia.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is the author of the report. Picture: Glenn Campbell

A nationwide analysis of crime and disadvantage in Aboriginal communities has concluded “high rates of domestic violence are one of the key factors that separate remote Indigenous communities from the rest of Australia”.

The Centre for Independent Studies policy paper — In Worlds Apart: Remote Indigenous disadvantage in the context of wider Australia — includes a comparison of domestic violence rates in areas where at least half of all residents are Indigenous, areas where at least 20 per cent of residents are Indigenous and areas where fewer than 20 per cent of residents are Indigenous.

The report found domestic violence rates were up to 1034 per cent higher than the average for the relevant state or territory in ­locations where at least half of all residents were Indigenous.

Report author Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, director of the Indigenous research program at the Centre for Independent Studies and the deputy mayor of Alice Springs, said the purpose of the policy paper was to demonstrate the problems regional and remote Indigenous communities faced.

Ms Nampijinpa Price wrote in the report that severe socio-economic disadvantage experienced by Indigenous communities undoubtedly contributed to astronomically high rates of alcohol abuse, crime and domestic violence. “Across all states and territories examined, these crimes occur at twice the rate — and higher — for communities that have 50 per cent or more Indigenous population,” she said.

“Alarmingly in some states and territories, domestic violence and assault outstrip the rate of all other crimes.”

In NSW, the average domestic violence rate in locations where at least half of residents are Indigenous was almost 10 times (976 per cent) higher than the state average, the report found. In South Australia, the median domestic violence rate in locations where at least half of all residents are Indigenous was 676 per cent higher than the state rate, and 678 per cent higher than locations with an Indigenous population under 20 per cent.

In locations in the Northern Territory where at least half of all residents are Indigenous, domestic violence incidents occur at an 81 per cent higher rate than the NT average, the report found.

Drawing on various sources of official information, the paper reported the highest disparity was in Queensland where in communities where at least half of all residents were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, the domestic violence rate was 1034 per cent higher than the overall state average.

In her report to be published on Monday, Ms Nampijinpa Price calls for a solution that targets communities based on evidence rather than assertions about race and culture. She said the action must focus on establishing the safe communities that any Australian would rightfully expect.

Her report examines the gap between communities with a higher proportion of Indigenous population and the rest of Australia in categories that include life expectancy, school attendance, education levels, employment, health, and crime.

The policy paper found that unemployment was about 19 per cent for Indigenous Australians as opposed to just under 7 per cent for non-Indigenous Australians.

Unemployment in very remote communities was 29 per cent as opposed to 3 per cent for non-­Indigenous unemployment in those communities.