**3. Prospects**

### *3.1. Life Expectancy*

Progress with some of the issues outlined above is certainly possible. While attempting to estimate changes in life expectancy from successive censuses is unsafe and backcasting population estimates beyond 10 years produces unreliable and implausible results, it is likely that estimating changes in life expectancy within a 10-year period using backcast population estimates, as carried out by AIHW [33] can provide a useable estimate of trend, even though the levels of life expectancy may be overestimated through the use of data sources each of which is known to under identify Indigenous people.

To its credit, the ABS commissioned an independent review of its Indigenous life expectancy estimate in 2019, which reported in 2021.

Taylor and her colleagues [34] seem to favour the cohort-interpolated approach over the backcasting method for estimating populations and that warrants further investigation. Equally, the Voluntary Indigenous Identifier (VII) on Medicare data may be sufficiently complete to provide an alternative source of identification and it may be appropriate for both ABS and AIHW to consider the potential for using the VII as a tool to reduce under identification in death records.

#### *3.2. Identifiers on Private Pathology Request Forms*

This issue has been on the national agenda for years but remains unresolved. Similar issues on the inclusion of indigenous identifiers on the records of private hospitals were dealt with decades ago and COVID-19 provides a real opportunity for the issue to be finally rectified along the lines recommended in the 2013 AIHW Report [43].

#### *3.3. Community Level Data*

"Accurate and locally relevant data on demographics, health outcomes, health determinants and access to services is key to inform decision making by local communities, services and for program and policy evaluations [44]." However, provision of data at small area level presents significant, technical and logistical challenges. The AIHW is developing an Indigenous Community Insights website which will facilitate access to data at a regional level and also produces data for Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) regions and sub regions. The IDN is also focused on provision of regional level data and as Professor Langton said, "By supporting communities and community-controlled organisations to collect their own data and use government-held data, the coalition of peaks and the IDN are helping communities to tell their own stories about what is working for them and what isn't [22]".
