The Australian Indigenous population has much worse outcomes on a wide range of measures than does the non Indigenous population. However, surveys show that the Australian population has varied views about Indigenous Australians, their living standards and the extent to which government policy should be directed at improving the outcomes of Indigenous Australians as compared to other Australians. This edition of Family Matters includes a number of articles that present research related to Indigenous Australians and families, covering a wide range of issues relevant to current policy debates and program development. This paper provides an introductory summary of selected economic and social characteristics of the Indigenous population to provide a context for the papers that follow.