The removal of Indigenous children from their homes is an ongoing issue of concern, and was raised by the Greens during the 2018 Victorian election campaign. The now former Greens member for the seat of Northcote, Lidia Thorpe, tweeted: "It has been nearly a decade since Kevin Rudd's apology, yet child removal rates have increased by 400 per cent". Have removal rates of Indigenous children risen by 400 per cent since Mr Rudd's apology in 2008? RMIT ABC Fact Check found Ms Thorpe's claim doesn't check out. Data is not collected on the rate of all child removals. Given the lack of data, experts told Fact Check that the rate of admissions to out-of-home care collected by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was a proxy for child removal rates. However, that data is only available by Indigenous status for the six years from 2011-12 to 2016-17, so it doesn't cover the decade mentioned by Ms Thorpe. For those six years, there was a 5.4 per cent increase in the rate of Indigenous children admitted to out-of-home care placement across the country. In Victoria, where data is only available for five years, there was a 46.5 per cent increase in the rate. Experts told Fact Check they knew of no basis for Ms Thorpe's 400 per cent figure.
Verdict: Doesn't check out