INDIGENOUS STATUS

As at 30 June 2008, the proportion of persons aged 10 years and over who were Indigenous were as follows:

• Northern Territory - 27%;
• New South Wales - 2%; and
• South Australia - 2%

Persons who identified as being Indigenous accounted for more than six out of every 10 offenders (61%) in the Northern Territory. For New South Wales, 10% of offenders identified as being Indigenous, while the proportion in South Australia was 9%.

For all three jurisdictions, acts intended to cause injury was the most prevalent principal offence for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders.

Caution should be exercised when comparing Indigenous and non-Indigenous data for some offence types as the Indigenous status of an offender cannot adequately be ascertained. Offenders proceeded against by way of penalty and/or infringement notices or summonses have higher rates of unknown Indigenous status as these methods are unlikely to capture this level of detail. For example:

• half (50%) of New South Wales offenders with public order offences also could not be identified as either Indigenous or non-Indigenous;
• in South Australia, 40% of all offenders had an unknown Indigenous status, which was mostly associated with the widespread use of penalty notices for illicit drug and public order offences. Indigenous status could not be identified for almost all offenders with illicit drug offences (83%); and
• offenders with an unknown Indigenous status in the Northern Territory comprised 19% of all offenders. Of the total offenders with public order offences, nearly half (47%) had an unknown Indigenous status; this was also due to the use of penalty notices for this offence type.

Excluding those offence divisions with high levels of unknown Indigenous status (illicit drug offences, public order offences, and offences against justice procedures) results in the proportion of the offender population who were Indigenous increasing to:

• 11% in New South Wales (compared to 10%);
• 15% in South Australia (compared to 9%); and
• 74% in the Northern Territory (compared to 61%).

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