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In 2002 the ABS conducted the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS). This was the second national survey of Indigenous Australians undertaken by the ABS, the first being the 1994 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey (NATSIS). The 2002 NATSISS was designed to be comparable with both the 2002 General Social Survey and the 1994 NATSIS. This combination provides a rich source of data which allows aspects of social well-being to be compared between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population as well as providing some indicative time series data on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.

This article presents a summary of data comparing Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous persons in Queensland.

A high proportion of both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations indicated that they were able to get support from outside their household in time of crisis. However the rates were high for both Indigenous populations in indicating that they would be unable to raise $2,000 for something important, with the Torres Strait Islander population over four times less likely to raise $2,000 than the non-Indigenous population.

The Indigenous populations were less likely to have undertaken voluntary work, however were more likely to have participated in sport or physical recreation activities in the last 12 months than the non-Indigenous population. Indigenous persons were more than twice as likely to have been the victim of physical or threatened violence.

A significantly lower proportion of Indigenous adults had access to a motor vehicle to drive than non-Indigenous adults, with Torres Strait Islander adults the least likely to have access. While the differences were not as significant in terms of being able to easily get to the places needed, the proportions were still lower for both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.

	Aboriginal(a) %	Torres Strait Islander(a) %	Non-Indigenous %
Able to get support in time of crisis	92	87	95
Undertaken voluntary work in last 12 months	29	23	36
Participated in sport or physical recreation activities in last 12 months	51	58	34
Unable to raise $2,000 for something important	51	64	15
Victim of physical or threatened violence	27	24	11
Has access to motor vehicle	56	46	87
Able to easily get to the places needed	68	67	87
(a) Includes persons identified as being of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin.

• In 2002, 96% of Indigenous young persons reported that they had been involved in social activities in the last three months, 70% had participated in sport or physical recreation activities in the last 12 months and 23% had undertaken voluntary work in the last 12 months.

• In 2002, Indigenous young persons reported their health as either excellent/very good (58%), good (32%) or fair/poor (8%), with 25% indicating that they had a disability or long term health condition.

• Over one third (39%) of Queensland Indigenous young persons reported being a victim of physical or threatened violence in the previous 12 months.

• Almost one third (31%) of young Indigenous adults had access to a motor vehicle to drive, while more than half (59%) indicated being able to easily get to places needed.