Issue Brief 6 / 1996

A comparison of the 1976 and 1991 Census data shows that an increasing proportion of Indigenous people are living in the low socioeconomic status or relatively poor neighbourhoods within Australian cities, while the number of Indigenous people living in more wealthy urban areas is in decline (Figure 1).

Disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods and unemployment

The unfavourable economic times of the past twenty years have hit hardest in poor urban neighbourhoods, bringing a large drop in employment for all residents including Indigenous Australians. Residents of these disadvantaged neighbourhoods have been especially affected by:

• the loss of labouring jobs
• the closing of many factories, and
• the general lack of job opportunities in poor areas of the city.

In these poor neighbourhoods several factors create the development of an atmosphere which discourages people from looking for work:

• As the number of employed people declines, the opportunities to be informed about available jobs by employed friends and relatives also declines.
• Those who have been unemployed for a long time become discouraged and stop looking for jobs, and may even turn to crime.
• Employers may overtly discriminate against people from the poorer parts of a city.
• The inadequate public transport in the poor areas of cities hinders the unemployed in their job search. According to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey, lack of transport is the biggest problem for urban Indigenous people trying to Þnd work.

Disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods and criminal activity

One important problem for Indigenous people in poor neighbourhoods is that their location increases their chance of being exposed to, or involved in, criminal activity. The high arrest rates of Indigenous people was one of the major concerns of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The high number of arrests and high level of imprisonment which Indigenous people experience is very damaging to their employment levels. This is because being in prison interferes with schooling and job searching, and may lead to a state of dependence known as 'institutionalisation'.

Policy makers should be concerned that Indigenous people in cities increasingly live in situations where they may be drawn into crime.

Disadvantaged urban neighbourhoods and isolation

The general decline of poor urban neighbourhoods is creating a larger gap between the rich and the poor. This is causing the poor to become isolated into areas where only other poor people live. The high numbers of Indigenous people now living in these poor areas means that they are also isolated from important opportunities to enhance their welfare.

This isolation may be worsened by the concentration of Indigenous people in relatively few of these poor urban neighbourhoods. That is, Indigenous people are very isolated from other residents of poor neighbourhoods who are themselves becoming increasingly isolated from mainstream society.

Policy implications

According to this research, programs that improve the situation of all people living in poor neighbourhoods, such as improved public transport systems, will also help Indigenous people. However, the high level of isolation of Indigenous people within poor neighbourhoods makes it desirable for policy makers to continue providing some special programs for Indigenous people.

B. Hunter.

This Issue Brief summarised CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 106, 'Indigenous Australians and the socioeconomic status of urban neighbourhoods', by B. Hunter published in May 1996. It was prepared by Linda Roach, assisted by Melissa Lucashenko and edited by Maureen MacKenzie-Taylor.