Better data needed, says Calma

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The revised Indigenous life expectancy figures are still unacceptable, but highlight a need to find better ways to collect data on Indigenous people, a prominent Aboriginal leader has said.

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The ABS said the previous method used for determining Indigenous life expectancy had been largely based on assumptions.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma welcomed the data, saying that it compensated for the undercount of Indigenous death records under the previous system.

"The new data shows that we need a new way to secure the identification of Indigenous people in death records so that the ABS no longer has to use assumptions to calculate an estimate of what the undercount might be," Mr Calma said.

Mr Calma said that in order to achieve health equality for Indigenous people, there must be a solid foundation of data to stand on.

"Efforts to close the life expectancy gap must be based on rock solid data, not estimates that can fluctuate," Mr Calma said.

But Mr Calma also said the revised figures should not overshadow the fact the gap is still "unacceptable".

Mr Calma said that he hoped that a national action plan would be enacted urgently between government and Indigenous Australia in order to close the gap.

"The fundamentals have not changed," he said.

"A divide of such magnitude indicates that black and white Australians still have very different life experiences, especially in terms of their access to doctors and medical services, the housing they live in and the food they eat."

The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory (AMSANT) also called on the government to continue its commitment to Indigenous health, warning that the new methodology was not a 'magic wand'.

"For Aboriginal people, especially in the NT where the figures are the worst in the nation," AMSANT Executive Officer John Paterson said.