Huge growth in Australian aborigines. Is it fashionable to identify? By Andrew Bolt.

I was sued by activists insisting no one could choose their “race”. Yet the latest Census suggests 40,000 just did. There are now 649,171 Aborigines counted, compared to 548,368 just five years earlier. …

I must assume it’s fashionable to identify as Aboriginal among people who have a choice. Or there are more financial benefits in doing so. …

Interestingly, the biggest growth is in Victoria – 25.8 per cent. That’s presumably where intermarriage rates are higher. It’s also our most Left-wing state.

That suggests a real public policy issue. With such huge growth in people identifying as Aboriginal – and in richer states – the demographic profile is being changed.

When we now measure progress in education, for instance, we must be careful to adjust for the fact that there are now many more children being included who would have not been included before. They are more likely to have fewer Aboriginal ancestors and to come from more mainstream families in urban areas.

That means the statistics may exaggerate progress for Aborigines in more traditionally Aboriginal areas.