ACCESS TO SPORTING FACILITIES BY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

The 2006 Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Survey found that there were 322 Indigenous communities with a population of 50 or more. Of these, 215 (67%) had some form of sporting facilities while 107 (33%) had no sporting facilities.

A total of 72,344 (88%) people living in Indigenous communities with a population of 50 or more, had access to sporting facilities in their community. Larger communities were more likely to have these facilities with 95% of communities with a usual population of 200 or more having at least one sporting facility, compared to 37% of communities with a usual population of 50 to 99.

The type of sporting facilities most commonly reported were outdoor courts for games such as basketball and netball (79%) and sports grounds (77%).

10.3 INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES WITH A POPULATION OF 50 OR MORE, AND REPORTED USUAL POPULATION, Access to sporting facilities - 2006
	Communities with a population of
Community sporting facilities	50-99	100-199	200 or more	Total	Reported usual population
Sports grounds	24	49	92	165	65 134
Outdoor basketball / netball courts	30	55	85	170	59 620
Indoor or covered facilities	1	6	37	44	32 381
Swimming pool(s)	1	6	19	26	19 293
Other buildings used for sport	8	10	38	56	30 366
Other community sporting facilities	5	4	12	21	8 403
Total with sporting facilities(a)	46	67	102	215	72 344
No sporting facilities	77	25	5	107	9 915
All communities(b)	123	92	107	322	82 259
(a) Totals may not add up as more than one response is possible. (b) Includes not stated, not applicable if relevant. Source: ABS data available on request, Housing and Infrastructure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, Australia, 2006.

In the states and the Northern Territory, Outdoor basketball/netball courts and Sports grounds were the most commonly reported sporting facilities. Most Outdoor basketball/netball courts (69) and Sports grounds (68) sporting facilities were reported in the Northern Territory (NT) and Western Australia with 47 and 43 respectively.

The state with the highest percentage of Indigenous communities lacking any sporting facilities was NSW where 56% (22) were in this situation. The state with the lowest percentage was Queensland where only 7.7% (3 communities) had no sporting facilities.

The NT had 49 Indigenous communities with no sporting facilities or not stated (i.e. almost half of all communities across Australia with no sporting facilities or not stated) although this only represented 38% of the Indigenous communities in the NT.

10.4 INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES WITH A POPULATION OF 50 OR MORE, Access to sporting facilities, By state or territory - 2006
	Communities with sporting facilities
State or territory	Sports grounds	Outdoor basketball / netball courts	Indoor or covered facilities	Swimming pool(s)	Other buildings used for sport	Other community sporting facilities (a)	No sporting facilities(a)	All communities
New South Wales	9	12	2	1	4	1	22	39
Queensland	27	26	17	7	11	2	3	39
South Australia	16	15	1	2	6	5	8	29
Western Australia	43	47	4	7	9	7	25	82
Northern Territory	68	69	20	9	25	6	49	130
Australia(b)	165	170	44	26	56	21	107	322
(a) Includes 'Whether community has sporting facilities' not stated.
(b) Victoria and Tasmania included in Australia for confidentiality reasons. The Australian Capital Territory did not have any discrete Indigenous communities.
Source: ABS data available on request, Housing and Infrastructure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, Australia, 2006.

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