West Australian Premier Colin Barnett is right in saying gonorrhoea is a problem in remote indigenous communities, but linking the issue to child abuse is misleading, research indicates.
Mr Barnett made the link during fierce debate about the planned closure of some remote indigenous communities in the Kimberley, but he's stood by the comments, saying the conditions Aboriginals live in has little improved in decades, so action is needed.
According to an annual report by the University of New South Wales' Kirby Institute, gonorrhoea rates in the national indigenous population were 14 times higher than in the non-indigenous population in 2013.
Aboriginals also suffer from disproportionately higher rates of chlamydia, infectious syphilis, HIV and hepatitis B and C.
In indigenous children aged under 16, STI diagnoses were in areas where screening was routinely carried out because it was a well known problem, the report showed.
More than 94 per cent of those notifications were in children aged 13 to 15 years, a similar rate to the non-indigenous population.
"The occurrence of STIs among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged less than 16 years linked to child sexual assault is a sensitive issue and often unnecessarily linked," the 2014 report says.
Head of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program, Marlene Kong, said a significant proportion of under-16s diagnosed with an STI caught it during a consensual relationship with same-aged peers.
"That is by far the majority of cases as opposed to sexual abuse," she told AAP.
She said condoms were used just as often in remote communities as they are in cities but indigenous people were still at a greater risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection.
That was because of the prevalence of STIs in regional areas.
"Statistically, it's just not on your side if you choose a partner in your respective rural community," Dr Kong said.
"But as long as you take the necessary precautions and do use a condom that's going to go a long way in protecting you."
Dr Kong said a survey found about half of the Aboriginal population had their first sexual experience before the age of 16, a trend also common in the non-indigenous population.
She said increasing primary heath care infrastructure in regional areas would help bring down the high rates of bloodborne viral and STIs in the indigenous population.
She said young girls and boys of any ethnicity should be encouraged to have an STI check when visiting their GP.
WA has the third highest indigenous population in the country, roughly 78,000 people, of which about 65 per cent live in regional or remote areas.
