Report card finds patchy progress at best on narrowing the gap with non-Indigenous Australians
The child mortality rate among Indigenous Australians has significantly improved, more than halving for infants under the age of one, but efforts to improve mental health and reduce instances of suicide and incarceration have gone backwards, a Productivity Commission report has revealed.
The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (OID) report, released on Wednesday, examines the nationally set indicators of the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is the sixth report in a series, and the first in three years.
It found there was a significant decline in child mortality between 1998 and 2012 from 217 to 146 deaths per 100,000. The mortality rates for infants more than halved over the same time.
The life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians narrowed from 11.4 years to 10.6 years for males and from 9.6 years to 9.5 years for females between 2005-07 and 2010-12.
While several outcomes had improved, those for incarceration and juvenile detention, suicide and self-harm, mental health and access to basic services such as clean water, functioning sewerage and electricity, have gone backwards.
Admissions to hospital for intentional self-harm increased by an alarming 48% between 2004-05 and 2012-13, and the proportion of adults reporting high or very high psychological distress rose from 27% to 30% over the same period. The suicide rate among Indigenous people between 2008 and 2012 was almost double that of the non-Indigenous population.
Calls have mounted for immediate and more effective action against a rising epidemic of suicide, particularly in remote areas and among younger and younger children.
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