Community based indicators in Australia –

Establishment and use

Dr Paul JelfsAssistant Statistician

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Introduction

• Community Indicators– Sponsor– Scope– Establishment– Use

• Examples– National– State– Local

What is a community indicator?

• …a measure of a characteristic of a population or an environment that has been agreed upon by stakeholders and is presented publicly for review.

• … measuring systems designed and developed by community members themselves…build a three dimensional picture of the social and environmental health of particular communities, … towards improving quality of life outcomes

What is a community?

• a broad concept that extends from local neighbourhoods right up to State or national aggregations

• could be related to specific population groups e.g. new migrants, school students and their families

Who drives community indicators? - Sponsor

• Governments – National, State, local?• Community• Academics• Media?

• Partnerships

Why build community indicators? - Scope

• Types of application of indicators– discovery of information sources– identification of key social issues– focus community and government attention – track social, environmental, economic issues– trends, differentials - population groups or areas – new or emerging issues and problem magnitude

– measure performance or response to interventions

Challenges in forming indicators? - Establishment

• Examples:– data supply, appropriateness and accuracy– data definition– display and interpretation of indicators– data timeliness and geographical scale– stakeholder engagement and debate– publication and communication

What are community indicators used for? - Use

• Media – expose poor performance, highlight areas of neglect• Community members – advocating for resources, highlighting

isolated populations• Politicians – planning for services, initiating social programs• Policy Depts – establishing & evaluating programs • Researchers – seeking cause and effect relationships between

outcome variables and inputs• Service providers – defining service populations, service

impact

National indicators

Health

Education

“STATE Education Minister Rod Welford has blamed indigenous and remote area students for dragging down Queensland's academic performance.”

Courier Mail – September 22 2008

Social Income of full-time workers in boom towns

Dysart (Qld)

Moranbah (Qld)

Blackwater (Qld)

Middlemount (Qld)

Tieri (Qld)

Emerald (Qld)

Moura (Qld)

Paraburdoo (WA)

Dampier (WA)

Newman (WA)

Karratha (WA)

Roxby Downs (SA)

Australia

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

20062001

$ real median weekly income

Source: 2001 and 2006 ABS Censuses of Population and Housing; Consumer Price Index, Australia

State based indicators

Crime rates – VictoriaCrimes against a person, 2006

Education and Employment

NSW – State Plan

Local indicators

Waverley Council - Sydney

Conclusion

• Building indicators…– they bring together a range of interests and

perspectives to consider and debate longer term implications of change.

– a means of building community capacities because they enable the development of skills in measuring assessing and evaluating social and environmental data

Indicator examples• Social

– Australian Social Trends http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/4102.0– Measures of Australia’s Progress

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/1383.0.55.001

• Education– National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy Tests http://www.naplan.edu.au/

• Health– NHPC (www.health.qld.gov.au/nathlthrpt/performance.asp)– NHPA (www.aihw.gov.au/nhpa/index.cfm)

• Local indicators– Victoria (www.communityindicators.net.au)– Waverley (New South Wales)

http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/publications/mgmntplan/2007/ManPlanReview_1stQuarter2007_2008.pdf