First Nations explained Place Forecast Feature

Referenced by 14 other explainers

First Nations shows how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are recorded in an area. Each person is in one of five groups: Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Non-Indigenous, and Not stated.

These figures are Place Forecast estimates based on Census data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The Census asks whether a person is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. A person can mark both. The five groups are:

• Aboriginal: people recorded as Aboriginal only.
• Torres Strait Islander: people recorded as Torres Strait Islander only.
• Both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander: people recorded as both.
• Non-Indigenous: people recorded as not of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin.
• Not stated: the question was not answered, or no Census form was received. This is a fact about the form, not about the person.

The figures count people where they usually live. They include people living in non-private dwellings such as hospitals, aged-care homes, hostels, and student housing. People here on a visit from another country are left out.

These figures are not adjusted for the Census undercount. The Census misses more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than other people. So these figures are not the official ABS Estimated Resident Population for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. That is built a different way.

Counts can change between Censuses for several reasons. These include births, deaths, migration, and changes in how people choose to answer over time.

Where some small areas show no count for a group, Place Forecast does not estimate values for them. What happens next depends on the case:

• No small area in the LGA shows a count. The whole ABS LGA total stays at LGA level.
• The small areas with a count hold less than half of the ABS LGA total. Their counts stay as they are. The rest stays at LGA level, as not allocated to a small area.
• The small areas with a count hold more than half. Their counts are scaled to match the ABS LGA total. The small areas with no count stay empty.

For these groups, read the ABS LGA total.

Reading this data fairly

These figures show how people answered Census questions. Here are the equity caveats to keep in mind. They keep the numbers fair:

• Census groups and small-area figures are a pattern, not a community's own account of itself. The right to say what they mean sits with that community.
• Place Forecast aims to present these figures in line with Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles. See the linked page for more detail.
• Read the Not stated group as a count of how people answered. It is not a measure of need or a judgement about identity.

See the marker methodology for how these figures are calculated and their limitations.