JON STANHOPE & KHALID AHMED use three ABS graphs to draw a stark picture of the ACT’s nation-leading incarceration of indigenous people.

The rate of incarceration of Aboriginal men and women in the ACT is the highest in Australia.

According to new data produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), when compared to the rest of Australia, the ACT incarceration rate ratio of both Aboriginal men and women is simply stunning.

The ABS data, which was published last month, compares Aboriginal to non-Aboriginal incarceration rate ratios for men and women. 

As illustrated at Table 1 Aboriginal women in the ACT are 76.5 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Aboriginal women. 

By way of comparison the average rate of over-representation across Australia is 31.8, while in Victoria it is 16.1 and in NSW 26.9. 

While it is a matter we are yet to pursue, we would not be surprised if the incarceration rate ratio of Aboriginal women in the ACT is not the highest rate for indigenous women in the world!

The ratio (if it is greater than 1) reflects the extent to which an Aboriginal person is more likely to be incarcerated compared to a non-Aboriginal person. A ratio of 5, for example, indicates that an Aboriginal person is five times more likely to be imprisoned.

In a similar vein, Table 2 revels that an Aboriginal man in the ACT is 25.7 times more likely to be imprisoned than a non-Aboriginal man. 

Again, for the sake of comparison the average rate of over-representation across Australia is 19.1 while in Victoria it is 17.8 and in NSW 15.9.

It is also of concern that the dramatic levels of over-representation of Aboriginal men and women in prison in the ACT is not a recent or short-term aberration.

In fact, as revealed in Table 3, in 2014, before Andrew Barr was appointed chief minister, the incarceration rate ratio of Aboriginal men and women in the ACT was lower than the Australian average.

This begs the question: how could this occur in a progressive jurisdiction under the most progressive government in Australia?

Jon Stanhope is a former chief minister of the ACT and Dr Khalid Ahmed a former senior ACT Treasury official.