Urban Indigenous Australians: segregation and inclusion
Nicholas Biddle
Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University
Contact Email:   nicholas.biddleanu.edu.au

More than three quarters of the Indigenous Australian population live in urban or regional Australia. However, there is a large degree of residential segregation with those Indigenous Australians who live in urban centres substantially more likely to live in neighbourhoods with relatively few non-Indigenous Australians. Furthermore, those urban neighbourhoods that Indigenous Australians are concentrated in are more likely to have poor employment prospects, low education attendance, poor quality housing and low levels of volunteering. This paper documents the level of residential segregation and socioeconomic concentration of Indigenous Australians in large urban centres. It also looks at some of the processes that impact on changes in segregation patterns including inter and intra-urban migration. The final part of the paper considers the implications of the results for building an inclusive society. The potentially positive aspects of residential segregation are considered, however the paper also discusses the role of segregation in entrenching socioeconomic disadvantage and the development of negative stereotypes.

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