Aboriginal offender rates highest in the nation
Feb 22, 2012
Duncan McFetridge MP
Shadow Minister for Police
Shadow Minister for Correctional Services
Shadow Minister for Emergency Services
Shadow Minister for Road Safety
Shadow Minister for Volunteers
Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
Aboriginal offender rates highest in the nation
Police services stretched to the limit and fighting to maintain current services are reflected in February ABS statistics that show Aboriginal offender rates are the highest in the nation.
The ABS has reported that “South Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offender rate of 13,695 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons aged 10 years and over was the highest” of all states surveyed.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offender rate in South Australia was 11 times the non-Indigenous offender rate. (ABS catalogue 4519.0 Recorded crime – offenders, table 3.9 - Offender rates 2008-2011).
Dr McFetridge, Shadow Minister for Police and Aboriginal Affairs, said these statistics were shocking and a sad indictment of the current Labor Government’s failed policies.
“The fact that this Labor Government has failed to address problems in Aboriginal communities is revealed in frightening statistics such as these,” said Dr McFetridge.
“Premier Weatherill and the Labor Government need to address problems in Aboriginal communities so that these offender rates are reduced.
“This Labor Government has a dismal record in tackling the needs of Aboriginal communities over the last ten years – another example of a decade of Labor mess.”