National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey 1994.

The article presents the results of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 1994. Acting on the recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the Federal Government allocated funds to the ABS to conduct the survey. The survey commenced design in 1992 and went into the field during early 1994. The first publication from that survey, released in February 1995, reveals some interesting information about families and service usage. The Acting Australian Statistician commented that a "close cooperative relationship between ABS and Aboriginal and Tones Strait Islander people led to a survey that was sympathetic to their cultural values and priorities," and his statement appears to be reflected by other evidence. Compared with the Australian picture generally, indigenous households are more likely to be family based, and multi-family. Indigenous families are more than five times as likely as non-indigenous families to be sharing with other families in the same households.