Child sex rife among Aborigines, report finds

Jun 15, 2007, 7:47 GMT

Sydney - Children were being sexually abused in all 45 Aboriginal communities in far-north Australia that inspectors visited during the preparation of a government report released Friday.

'This is a national disgrace, it's a disaster, and it is something that should never happen in this country,' Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough told reporters. 'We should all find it absolutely abhorrent and should be doing everything in our power to fix it.'

The report was written by aboriginal social worker Pat Anderson and government lawyer Rex Wild. They said alcohol and ignorance are the biggest contributors to child sex abuse.

Brough, who caused controversy last year by saying Aboriginal elders were buying and selling children for sex, said the evidence from just one remote Aboriginal community showed evidence that was incontrovertible.

'In the last two months, 13 out of an approximate adult population of 90 have been charged with child sex offences against children as young as three with the main offence being penetration of a girl under 13,' he said.

Around 500,000 of the 20 million Australians identify themselves as Aborigines. Their life expectancy is 17 years shorter than other Australians. Suicides are twice the national rate, murders are six times as high and they are 11 times more likely to be imprisoned than other Australians.

More than 60 per cent of Aboriginal pupils don't finish high school and only 12 per cent go on to some form of higher education.