Policy implications of indigenous population change, 1991-1996

"Since 1971 the indigenous population of Australia has trebled. From 1991 to 1996 numbers grew by 33 percent, 16 percent more than had been projected. This unexpected increase was highest in the southeast, especially in Tasmania and the ACT. Much of it can be explained by out-marriage. In 1996, 64 percent of couples (in married or de facto relationships) included a non-indigenous partner. Most of the children from these intermixed relationships have been counted as indigenous persons in the Census."