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APPENDIX 1 COMPARABILITY BETWEEN 2001 & 2006 CHINS


INTRODUCTION

1 The Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Survey (CHINS) collects information on all discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the Indigenous organisations that provide housing to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

2 The CHINS was first conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 1999, and then again in 2001 (to coincide with the Census of Population and Housing). The 1999 and 2001 CHINS were conducted on behalf of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and under the authority of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989. The 2006 CHINS was conducted on behalf of the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA).

3 The key objective of CHINS is to inform the needs based allocation of Commonwealth, State and regional funding to Indigenous communities and Indigenous Housing Organisations for housing and infrastructure. One of the principal information requirements of the 2006 CHINS was to maintain comparability with the 1999 and 2001 surveys so that the progress of programs implemented since the 1999 and 2001 collections could be assessed.

4 A review of the 2001 CHINS was undertaken in February to June 2004 by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS) who had taken over some of the functions from ATSIC. ATSIS invited key stakeholders from various Commonwealth and State/Territory agencies, ATSIS officers in Central, Regional and State Offices, service providers, research institutions and Indigenous Housing Organisations to provide comments on content expansion and reduction, priorities for CHINS 2006 and quality issues requiring further investigation. The aim was to assess the overall value and benefit of undertaking CHINS and to consider its future directions.

5 The recommendations from the ATSIS review of the 2001 CHINS content were assessed by the 2006 CHINS Advisory Group formed by the ABS to advise on the development of the survey. Following testing of the proposed 2006 data items, new items were added to the survey and a few previously collected items were removed. Refer to paragraph 8 in this Appendix for a list of data items excluded from the 2006 CHINS. It is estimated that the overall change to the content affected around 10 per cent of topics.

6 For the 2006 CHINS, a number of additional questions have been included to improve the quality and usefulness of the data, whilst still enabling basic data to be compared.

NEW DATA ITEMS IN 2006 CHINS

7 The following is a list of the new data items in the 2006 CHINS:

Indigenous Housing Organisations (IHOs)

Housing Management

• Whether IHO has a Board
• Whether IHO Board's members are same as elected Community Council
• Frequency of Board meetings
• Indigenous status of the individual looking after the management of IHO dwellings
• Training status of individual looking after the management of IHO dwellings.

• Total income ($ value) received in last financial year
• Income ($ value) by type of income in last financial year
• Main basis for rent calculation
• Additional charges included in rent charges
• Total rent charged to all tenants in last financial year.

• Total expenditure ($ value) in last financial year
• Expenditure ($ value) by type of running cost in last financial year.

• Whether condition assessment is planned for in the next 12 months
• Average time taken to allocate dwellings.

• Number of permanent dwellings built in the last 12 months
• Number of permanent dwellings purchased in the last 12 months
• Total number of acquisitions in last 12 months
• Number of permanent dwellings demolished or written-off in last 12 months
• Number of permanent dwellings sold in last 12 months
• Of properties sold, number of permanent dwellings sold to former tenants
• Total number of disposals in last 12 months.

• Month in which largest population increased incurred.

• Whether community has or is developing a community needs plan
• Main planning priority needs.

• Whether housing condition assessment is planned for in the next 12 months.

• Reason for non-use of sporting facilities
• Organisation responsible for maintaining sporting facilities
• Reasons public toilets not in working order
• Organisation responsible for maintaining public toilets.

• Whether community has a water management plan
• Whether water interruptions occurred in last 12 months
• Reason(s) for water interruptions in last 12 months
• Duration of longest interruption to water supply
• Number of dwellings affected by longest interruption to water supply
• Whether all permanent dwellings are fitted with water meters
• Whether all permanent dwellings are fitted with isolation valves
• Whether water testing results required corrective action.

• Reason permanent dwelling not connected to electricity supply
• Whether individual households are charged for electricity
• Organisation responsible for electricity administration charges to households
• Number of permanent dwellings affected by electricity interruptions
• Whether community has a gas supply
• Source of gas supply.

• Usual method of transport (private, public, community) to nearest town with major services
• Whether public transport available to nearest town with major services
• Frequency of public transport to nearest town with major services
• Whether community transport available to nearest town with major services
• Frequency of community transport to nearest town with major services.

• Whether community has satellite dish
• Whether community has public Internet access
• Number of public Internet access points in community
• Number of public Internet access points in working order
• Location of public Internet access points
• Type of Internet access technology.

Indigenous Housing Organisations (IHOs)

Housing Management

• IHO incorporation status.

• Whether IHO received any housing grants in the last financial year
• Provider(s) of housing grants to IHO in the last financial year
• Number of housing grant providers in the last financial year.

• Whether IHO set aside own funds for improvements to the housing stock
• Type(s) of improvements to housing stock from IHO's own funds.

• Number of times water restrictions were applied in last 12 months
• Duration of longest water restriction in last 12 months
• Whether water restrictions occur every year
• Community notification of type of drinking water test failures in last 12 months
• Organisation responsible for major repairs and maintenance to drainage system.

• Level of postal delivery service
• Frequency of postal delivery service.

Discrete Indigenous Communities

Population

• Reason for largest increase in population (for 2 weeks or more) during last 12 months - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • better facilities
  • meetings.

• Main reason community was unoccupied (for 2 weeks or more) during last 12 months - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • tenant away
  • lack of facilities/services
  • lack of transport/road access
  • awaiting approval /certification for occupancy.

• CDEP maintenance services - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • vehicle/machinery maintenance
  • helicopter pad.

• General community facilities - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • broadcasting facilities.

• Main source of drinking water - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • carted water
• Whether community has any other source(s) of water - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • carted water
• Type(s) of drinking water testing - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • radiological testing
• Test type that failed - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • radiological testing .

• Reason for electricity interruptions - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • system overload.

• Reason(s) for sewerage system overflows - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • inappropriate use.

• Type of rubbish disposal - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • buried.

• Types of broadcasts received - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • cable television.

• Type of health facilities located in community - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • Aboriginal Primary Health Care Service
  • Other (state funded) Community Health Centre
  • General Practice
  • Substance Use Service
  • Dental Service
  • Allied Health Professional Clinic
  • Palliative Care Facility.
• Distance to nearest health facilities (as listed above) not located in the community
  • Less than 10km
  • 10-24km
  • 25-49km
  • 50-99km
  • 100-249km
  • 250km and over.
• Whether any health professionals visit or work in community - list of categories was expanded to include:
  • Diabetes specialist
  • Paediatrician
  • Speech pathologist
  • Occupational therapist.
• Whether any health promotion programs are conducted in the community
  • list of categories was expanded to include:
    • Trachoma control
    • Nutrition
    • Stop smoking
    • Domestic and personal hygiene.
  • The following categories were included in 2001 but were deleted for 2006:
    • Chronic disease prevention
    • Chronic disease management.

11 For information on the content and methodology of the 1992 Housing and Community Infrastructure Needs Survey (HCINS) and the 1999 and 2001 Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Survey (CHINS), refer to Appendix 1: Comparability between the 1992 Housing and Community Infrastructure Needs Survey (HCINS) and the Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Survey (CHINS) on pp. 81-83 in the 2001 issue of Housing and Infrastructure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, Australia (cat. no. 4710.0).