The Australian Bureau of Statistics is to conduct a survey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from March to June next year.
The survey was recommended by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
It will enable Aborigines and Islanders to provide data about their aspirations, objectives and needs and provide a way of measuring progress towards them.
A draft survey has been issued after extensive consultation.
The bureau said yesterday, “”The survey will be conducted through interviews of a sample of members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and it will provide information collected consistently across the country.”
It would complement other sources. It would provide social, demographic, health and economic data to help government policy and program decisions and to help Aborigines and Islanders make informed decisions and help self-determination.
Results would be known at the end of next year and would improve community awareness.
The results of another recommendation of the Royal commission were published by the Australian Institute of Criminology last week. The commission recommended a survey of people in custody every four years. The results of the second survey, taken in August last year, showed that while custody rates fell compared with those four years previously, the proportion of Aborigines among those taken into custody rose slightly.
It showed Aboriginal people were held in custody at a rate 26 times that of non-Aboriginal people.