This paper attempts to identify Commonwealth expenditure in the area of Indigenous affairs over the 40 years from 1968 to 2008 and to plot that expenditure by agency.

The paper analyses trends in both the nominal and real expenditure, in the expenditure as a percentage of total Commonwealth outlays and Gross Domestic Product, and in the per-capita expenditure. In nominal and real terms Commonwealth Indigenous-specific expenditure has trended up, but as a percentage of total outlays or Gross Domestic Product it has plateaued in more recent years. The per capita trend is found to be too problematic to characterise simply.

Read the full report at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/2008-09/09rp10.htm.

The paper is published by the Parliamentary Library in the Australian Parliament House and written by Dr John Gardiner-Garden, Social Policy Section & Malcolm Park, Statistics and Mapping Section.