Report: Australian aborigines in bad shape

CANBERRA, Australia, July 18 (UPI) -- A new report on the well-being of Australian aborigines finds that more children are under state protection and more adults are in prison.

The third Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Report was prepared by the Productivity Commission for the Council of Australian Governments, The Australian reported.

The report found that conditions were worst in Western Australia. The state had the highest imprisonment rate for both juvenile and adult aborigines, the highest death rate for female infants and the highest rate of hospitalizations for drug and alcohol abuse.

In schools in primarily indigenous areas in Western Australia, truancy rates are up sharply and literacy rates are down.

In the northern part of the state, police are investigating sexual exploitation of teenage aboriginal girls. There have been 28 arrests in Halls Creek and Kalumburu.

One of the victims had a baby after being raped at the age of 13.