Indigenous-Education-Review_DRAFT

Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory
Bruce Wilson
Chapter Three: Demographics 5
To a substantial extent, the policies, practices, structures and traditions of education are a function
of geography and demography. The Northern Territory has a small, diverse population spread over
an area of 1.35 million square kilometres, 1.7 times larger than New South Wales and six times the
size of Victoria, but with a population at the time of the 2011 census of only 228,265.
The clearest measure of the geographic challenge facing the jurisdiction is its population density of
0.17 people per km 2, or 5.7 km 2 per person. Victoria is 147 times more densely populated and New
South Wales 54 times.
Delivering services to a population spread so thinly poses massive logistical and economic
challenges. Delivering education within a reasonable distance from the home of every enrolled child
requires many small schools and extended supply chains. It imposes substantial additional costs over
those jurisdictions that service more densely settled populations. The other states also have far
greater populations, larger economies and a correspondingly larger tax base to fund education and
the advantages of economies of scale.
About 30% of the Northern Territory population, or 68,850 at the 2011 census, are Indigenous. The
Northern Territory Indigenous population is growing at about 1.3% per year. By contrast, Indigenous
people represent about 3% of the Australian population as a whole. Indigenous people in the
Northern Territory represent about 10% of the national Indigenous population of 669,900.
Economic factors
This population includes the most disadvantaged groups of Australians. The median personal weekly
income of Indigenous Territorians 15 years and over is $269, compared with $925 for non‐
Indigenous residents. Indigenous households made up 34% of households with the lowest household
income, but only 12% of households with the highest household income 6 .
DRAFT
The employment to population ratio 7 in the Northern Territory was 33% for Indigenous and 77% for
non‐Indigenous people in 2011. For the Indigenous population, the ratio in remote and very remote
Northern Territory is below 30%.
Location and mobility
The location of the Northern Territory’s Indigenous people is a further key factor. Nationally the
largest proportion (35%) of the Indigenous population reside in major cities. In contrast the majority
(58%) of the Northern Territory Indigenous population reside in very remote locations. Three
quarters (75%) of the Northern Territory’s very remote population are Indigenous and for the
school‐age population the Indigenous proportion is higher at almost nine out of ten people. Very
remote Indigenous people in the Northern Territory account for 44% of the entire very remote
Indigenous population nationally. Although the distribution of the Indigenous population in the
Northern Territory is distinctively skewed towards very remote it is widely dispersed throughout the
5 Unless otherwise stated, data are derived from the ABS Census figures for 2011, 2006 and 2001.
6 ‘Lowest household income’ is defined as the lowest four bands of income in the 2011 census, between $0 and $399
household income per week. ‘Highest household income’ is defined as the four highest bands in the census, from $1500
per week to over $3000 per week.
7 The ratio refers to employed people expressed as a percentage of those aged 15 years and over.
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