Australia could be facing a national crisis as the number of indigenous children being removed from their families threatens to soar, a new report warns.
Without urgent attention, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care will more than triple in the next 20 years, according to the Family Matters report to be launched at Parliament House on Wednesday.
"What we really need is governments to resource our vision for a better future for our children," Family Matters co-chair Natalie Lewis said in a statement.
"Supportive and preventative services ... are crucial to addressing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care."
The report finds that indigenous children are nearly 10 times more likely to be removed from their families than non-indigenous children.
Only one in every five dollars spent on child protection is invested in family support.
Labor senator Doug Cameron said the report demanded greater attention to indigenous affairs.
"I think there's an urgent need to look at the Closing The Gap issues more effectively than the Turnbull government's been doing," he told reporters.
The report also finds that only seven-in-10 children are placed with family, kin or other indigenous carers.
Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm is not opposed to placing kids in danger in safer non-indigenous households if that was the most viable option.
"Placing them with other Aboriginal households just because they are Aboriginal households I think is the wrong thing to do," he said.
Greens senator Janet Rice said the report's findings were disturbing.
"Essentially it shows there is still unfinished business," she said.
"We've still got a long way to go before we are providing the right level of support to aboriginal families to ensure that their families can stay together."
