From ABC News Online :

A national report on Indigenous social and economic trends has shown a worsening in the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians on child abuse.

The report titled Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage has been released by Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Darwin.

The Productivity Commission's report shows Indigenous children are six times as likely to be abused than non-Indigenous children. Since 2003, this gap has widened from being four times as likely.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the report is "devastating" and all governments will have to redouble their efforts in response.

The report says the rate of substantiated notifications for child abuse or neglect for Indigenous children has double since 1999-2000, from 16 per 1000 children to 35 per 1000 children.

At the time time, the rate for non-Indigenous children has risen from five to six per 1000.

The report says 41 out of every 1000 Indigenous children were subject to care and protection orders, while five out of every 1000 non-Indigenous children were under similar orders.

It also says Indigenous literacy and numeracy levels have not lifted.

Mr Rudd says trying to find new ways of closing the gap will be a major focus of today's COAG meeting, which Indigenous leaders have been invited to attend.

"The fact that despite all the efforts in the past, when it comes to such basic things as literacy and numeracy standards, that we have achieved no effective progress, means that we have to redouble and treble our efforts to make an impact."