1387.3 - Queensland in Review, 2003  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 01/12/2005  Ceased
   Page tools: Print Print Page  

Note: Queensland National Regional Profiles will no longer be included as part of Queensland in Review. This content is now subsumed by the National Regional Profiles at the National level.

Introduction

The Queensland Regional Profiles (QRP), a new section of Queensland in Review, brings together data currently held separately for each Statistical Division (SD) and Local Government Area (LGA) for Queensland in the National Regional Profiles (NRP).

The latest data in the 5 years provided for each SD and LGA in the NRP have been re-formatted in the QRP to provide a spatial presentation of the data for all LGAs within their relevant SDs.

The recast NRP data are augmented by extra information not currently included in the NRP, including local government finances, tourist accommodation, housing sales, schools and students, and registered motor vehicles. In effect, the new QRP contain detailed regional data previously provided in the publication Regional Statistics Queensland (cat. no. 1362.3).

The re-formatted NRP data, as well as the additional data for the QRP are sourced from a wide variety of collections, both ABS and non-ABS. When analysing the data, care needs to be taken as time periods, definitions, methodologies, scope and coverage differ between collections.

While information on the datasets and terms used in this profile are included below and in the accompanying Glossary, more detailed information can be obtained by referring to the relevant source listed for each dataset.

Regions

All data are shown for boundaries as described in the 2003 edition of the ASGC (ASGC 2003). For further information see the Statistical Geography: Volume 1 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification, 2003 (ASGC), (cat. no. 1216.0). Local Government Areas are spatial units which represent the geographical areas of incorporated local government councils such as cities (C), towns (T), shires (S), Aboriginal community councils (AC) and Island community councils (IC).

Statistical divisions, which are groupings of whole or partial LGAs, are designed to be relatively homogeneous regions characterised by identifiable social and economic units within the region. North West Statistical Division includes unincorporated islands.

Land area

The land area figures are based upon the boundaries of the LGAs in the 2003 edition of the ASGC. The areas of the LGAs were calculated using ABS standard Geographic Information Systems software from the digital boundaries of the LGAs. Higher level spatial unit area figures are aggregations of the LGA areas.

Proportion of population in remoteness area

The percentages shown indicate the proportion of the population living in each category of Remoteness for the selected region. The proportions are based on where people were on the night of the 2001 Census of Population and Housing.

The Remoteness Structure was added to the ASGC in 2001 in order to provide a standard geographical structure describing Australia in terms of a measurement of remoteness or distance from services. It is designed to allow quantitative comparisons between ‘city’ and ‘country’ Australia.

The Remoteness Structure is based upon the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) which was developed for the former Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care (now Department of Health and Ageing) by the National Key Centre for Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems. ARIA measures the remoteness of a point based on the road distances to the nearest town (service centre) in each of five population size classes. The basic premises of ARIA are that there are more services available in larger towns than small towns and that remoteness is a factor of the relative distance one must travel to access a full range of services.

The Remoteness Structure contains the following categories which provide a measurement of whether geographic distances impose restrictions on the accessibility to the widest range of goods, services and opportunities for social interaction:

  • Major Cities of Queensland - imposes minimal restriction e.g. Brisbane, Gold Coast.
  • Inner Regional Queensland - imposes some restriction e.g. Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Gladstone.
  • Outer Regional Queensland - imposes a moderate restriction e.g. Roma, Cairns.
  • Remote Queensland - imposes a high restriction e.g. Charters Towers, Cooktown.
  • Very Remote Queensland - imposes the highest restriction e.g. The far west parts of Queensland.
Detailed information about the Remoteness Structure can be referenced in Information Paper: ABS Views on Remoteness, 2001 (cat. no. 1244.0) and Information Paper: Outcomes of ABS Views on Remoteness Consultation, Australia, 2001 (cat. no. 1244.0.00.001).

Population

Population figures are the estimated resident population (ERP) for the selected region as at 30 June 2003 for the year shown. Data are shown to the nearest whole number without rounding, but accuracy to the last digit is not claimed and should not be assumed.

The concept of ERP links people to a place of usual residence within Australia. Usual residence is defined as that place where each person has lived or intends to live for
6 months or more in the reference year.

In census years the ERP as at 30 June for a region is based on usual residence census counts, with an allowance for net census undercount and the number of residents temporarily overseas at the census date. Overseas visitors in Australia are excluded from this calculation. As the census is held at a date other than 30 June (7 August in 2001), further adjustments taking into account births, deaths and net migration for the intervening period are made to obtain the ERP at 30 June.

For post-censal years, estimates at the Australian level take into account natural increase and net overseas migration, while estimates for states and territories also use estimated interstate movements involving a change of usual residence. However, the absence of migration data at the LGA level means that it is not possible to estimate LGA populations by taking into account natural increase and net migration. Instead, ERPs are calculated using a mathematical model.

In the mathematical model a relationship is established between changes in population and changes in other indicators over the period between the two most recent censuses.

The choice of indicators varies across the states and territories, depending on availability, and includes dwelling approvals, electricity connections, Medicare enrolments and drivers’ licences. Changes in these indicators are then used to estimate changes in the population of each area since the last census. The choice of indicators also varies across LGAs depending on aspects such as whether the LGA is urban or rural, is growing or declining, and whether the area has a high or low proportion of houses or medium and high density dwellings.

Local knowledge, including that advised by local governments, may be used to adjust the outcome of the model for a particular LGA.

The ABS has been unable to estimate total population change from 30 June 2002 onwards for the Aboriginal Council (AC) and Island Council (IC) LGAs introduced in Queensland in the 2002 edition of the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC). For these areas, and for the residual LGAs from which they were formed, the most recently published LGA total population estimates (June 2002) have been held constant. In these cases, the post-censal estimates by age and sex have been adjusted for births, deaths and the ageing of the population since 30 June 2001.

A more detailed description of the ERP methodology as adopted by the ABS for official population estimates, is contained in
Demographic Estimates and Projections: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 3228.0).

Further information on ERP data can also be found in
Regional Population Growth, Australia and New Zealand (cat. no. 3218.0).

Population density

The population density for a region is calculated by dividing the estimated resident population (ERP) by the land area to obtain the number of persons per square kilometre.

Births

Births statistics are presented on the basis of the usual residence of the mother regardless of where in Australia the birth occurred or was registered. The data refer to births registered for the financial year shown and are compiled from data provided to the state/territory’s Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. For more information refer to Births, Australia (cat.no. 3301.0).

Deaths

Death statistics are presented on the basis of the usual residence of the deceased regardless of where in Australia the death occurred or was registered. The data refer to deaths registered for the financial year shown and are compiled from data provided to the state/territory’s Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. For more information refer to Deaths, Australia (cat.no. 3302.0).

Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage/Disadvantage

The Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage/Disadvantage is derived from the 2001 Census of Population and Housing and measures aspects of social and economic conditions in an area. The measure presented in the profiles is a decile, which is derived from the index values for all areas.

The Index of Advantage/Disadvantage is a continuum of advantage to disadvantage. Low values indicate areas of disadvantage; and high values indicate areas of advantage. A decile is obtained by ranking all areas according to their index value (low numbers to high numbers), then dividing the ranking into ten equal groups, each group comprising 10% of the areas. Deciles are named from 1 (lowest decile) to 10 (highest decile). If a Local Government Area has a decile ranking of 1 then it would fall within that group of LGAs that comprise the lowest 10% of LGAs in terms of its Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage/Disadvantage. Conversely, if an LGA has a decile ranking of 10 then it would fall within that group of LGAs that comprise the highest 10% of LGAs in terms of its Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage/Disadvantage.

The index value of an area is constructed from attributes of the population in that area such as educational attainment, income, employment and occupation. A higher index value indicates that an area has attributes such as a relatively high proportion of people with high incomes or a skilled workforce. It also means an area has a low proportion of people with low incomes and relatively few unskilled people in the workforce. Conversely, a low index value indicates that an area has a higher proportion of individuals with low incomes, more employees in unskilled occupations, etc.; and a low proportion of people with high incomes or in skilled occupations.

There are three other socio-economic indexes derived from the 2001 Census, each designed to measure different social and economic aspects of the Australian population. For more information about the indexes see Information Paper: Census of Population and Housing, Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas, Australia, 2001 (cat. no. 2039.0).

Estimates of unemployment

Unemployment estimates for small areas are produced by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) using the Structure Preserving Estimation (SPREE) methodology.

SPREE uses Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services (Centrelink) statistics of persons in receipt of unemployment benefits and ABS population and labour force estimates by labour force regions to estimate unemployment levels. Sampling and non-sampling errors in these collections will flow into the DEWR estimates.

This methodology produces original, unadjusted estimates which can exhibit considerable variability. The data shown in the National Regional Profile have been ‘smoothed’ by averaging the original data over the last four quarters to September. Care should be exercised when interpreting data for areas with small numbers of unemployed persons.

DEWR produced the estimates on ASGC 2001 boundaries so a geographic concordance has been used to present the data based on ASGC 2003.

A detailed description of the SPREE methodology used in deriving the estimates is presented in the DEWR quarterly publication Small Area Labour Markets, Australia on the DEWR web site.

Selected income support customers

The term ‘Selected income support customers’ has been used to define persons receiving specific payments from various Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) programs for the years shown. (In 2004 the responsibility for some payments were transferred from FaCS to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and to the Department of Education, Science and Training). The statistics shown have been compiled from data collected by Centrelink which is the government agency delivering income support payments and services to eligible members of the community on behalf of FaCS for the years shown.

Centrelink customers complete claim forms in order to determine their eligibility for payments and services. The type of payment being claimed determines what form is used and how frequently claim forms need to be submitted.

People receiving more than one payment are only counted once by using the main payment type. Data for Age Pension, Disability Support Pension, Newstart Allowance, Parenting Payment - Single and Youth Allowance are shown separately while the following main payment types have been grouped in the "other pensions and allowances" category: Austudy, Carer Allowance, Carer Payment, Double Orphan Pension, Exceptional Circumstances, Mobility Allowance, Newstart Mature Age Allowance, Parenting Payment - Partnered, Partner Allowance, Sickness Allowance, Special Benefit, Widow Allowance, Wife Pension and Widow Class B. Brief descriptions of each payment type are included in the
Glossary,.

Excluded from the data presented in this profile are persons whose main payment type is Bereavement Allowance, Childcare Benefit, Farm Family Restart or Family Tax Benefit Part A or B.

Counts of income support customers include those receiving a payment and those customers temporarily suspended from payment or not paid in the fortnight (zero paid) due to income/assets test provisions or other administrative procedures. Age Pension counts exclude payments made to persons overseas and age pensions paid by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

The percentage of long-term Newstart Allowance customers and the number of Newstart Allowance customers come from different Centrelink databases. The data used to calculate the percentage of long-term Newstart Allowance customers exclude those persons temporarily suspended from payment or zero paid. Consequently, the percentages should not be applied to the Newstart Allowance numbers.

Data are for the fortnightly pay period closest to the end of June 2002 and the end of June 2003.

The statistics shown have been provided to the ABS in aggregated form only. No information about individual income support customers have been released to the ABS. A geographic concordance has been used in order to present the original postcode data on ASGC 2003 boundaries. Note that the use of this concordance may lead to total numbers for States/Territories which differ slightly from State/Territory totals published by Centrelink.

Detailed information on specific payments and eligibility requirements can be found on the Centrelink web site at
www.centrelink.gov.au.

Average individual annual taxable income

The average individual annual taxable income data have been sourced from the annual Australian Taxation Office (ATO) publication and CD-ROM ‘Taxation Statistics’. (These are also available on the Tax Office web site through the following link: Taxation Statistics.)

The main functions and responsibilities of the ATO are to administer taxation legislation and to collect a wide variety of taxes. The ATO therefore collects data from its reporting population as part of its processes to calculate income tax liability for those persons who are required to lodge an income tax return.

Individuals who submit an individual income tax return report their total income from various sources over a financial year. Their taxable income is the amount remaining after deducting from assessable income all deductions allowed under the Income Tax Assessment Act and is the amount to which tax rates are applied.

The average individual annual taxable income in an area is then calculated by dividing the total taxable income reported for an area by the total number of taxable taxpayers.

A geographic concordance has been used in order to present the original postcode data on ASGC 2003 boundaries.

Wage and salary earners

The estimates for wage and salary earners have been compiled by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) from their Individual Income Tax Return Database.

The main functions and responsibilities of the Australian Taxation Office are to administer taxation legislation and to collect a wide variety of taxes. The ATO therefore collects data from its reporting population as part of its processes to calculate income tax liability for those persons who are required to lodge an income tax return.

Individuals who submit an individual income tax return report their income from one or more of a range of sources such as wages and salary, own business, superannuation, investments and government pensions, benefits or allowances.

As the ATO’s income tax return is designed to obtain a person’s total income from various sources over a financial year, and not the employment status of a person at a particular point in time, wage and salary earners have been defined as ‘persons aged 15 years and over who have submitted an individual income tax return and for whom wage and salary income was the principal (or main) source of income for the financial year’.

Wage and salary income, as reported on the income tax return, includes gross income as shown on the ‘PAYG payment summary - individual non-business’ as well as allowances, commissions, bonuses, tips, gratuities, consultation fees, honoraria and other payments for services. Allowances and other earnings may include car, travel or transport allowances, allowances for tools, clothing or laundry and dirt, risk, meal or entertainment allowances. The data to define and compile counts of wage and salary earners have been sourced from questions 1 and 2 on the individual income tax return (Note: PAYG (Pay as You Go) payment summaries were previously known as Group Certificates).

All individual income tax statistics provided to the ABS by the ATO have been in aggregated form only, at the LGA level. Information about individual taxpayers have not been released to the ABS.

The statistics are based on individual income tax returns lodged for the financial year ended 30 June, regardless of the year in which they were processed.

A geographic concordance has been used in order to present the data on ASGC 2003 boundaries.

Further information on these statistics can be found in the electronic publication Regional Wage and Salary Earner Statistics, (cat. no. 5673.0.55.001) (for 1998-99 to 2000-01) and the data cube Regional Wage and Salary Earner Statistics (cat. no. 5673.0.55.003) for 2001-02 data.

Source of personal income

Experimental estimates of personal income brings together aggregated from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and from the Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS), which was responsible for income support payments for the years shown.

The income received by individuals have been grouped into six main categories:
Wage and salary income (data source - ATO)
Own unincorporated business income (data source - ATO)
Investment income (data source - ATO)
Superannuation and annuity income (data source - ATO)
Government cash benefit income (data source - FaCS)
Other income (data source - ATO)

Total gross income is the sum of the income from all these sources before income tax and the Medicare levy have been deducted.

Data are for the financial year ended 30 June.

For further information see Information paper: Experimental Estimates of Personal Income for Small Areas, Taxation and Income Support Data, 1995-96 to 2000-01 (cat. no. 6524.0).

Building approvals

Statistics of building work approvals are compiled from:
permits issued by local government authorities;
contracts let or day labour work authorised by Commonwealth, State, semi-government and local government authorities;
major building activity in areas not subject to normal administrative approval (e.g. building on remote mine sites).

The statistics included in this profile relate to all residential building approvals valued at $10,000 or more and all approved non-residential building jobs valued at $50,000 or more.

Construction activity not defined as building (e.g. construction of roads, bridges, railways etc) is excluded from building statistics.

The data are for the financial year ended 30 June.

For further information see Building Approvals, Australia, (cat. no. 8731.0 ).

New motor vehicle sales

New motor vehicle sales statistics are based on the Vehicle Facts (VFACTS) service produced by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI). VFACTS data are based on retail sales of new vehicles by all FCAI members.

Included are passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, vehicles with diplomatic and consular plates, State/Territory and Commonwealth owned vehicles and vehicles belonging to the defence forces. Excluded are motor cycles, plant and equipment and unpowered vehicles.

Data are for the financial year ended 30 June. A geographic concordance has been used in order to present the original postcode data on ASGC 2003 boundaries.

Detailed monthly figures can be obtained by making inquiries to the Manager, VFACTS, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries on (03) 9829 1234. Some information is also available by viewing the industry summary presented on the VFACTS web site www.autoweb.com.au.

Value of agricultural production

The value of agricultural production estimates are derived by the multiplication of price and quantity of individual agricultural commodities. Quantity data for commodities was collected at the 2000-01 Agricultural Census. Price data is the average unit value of a given commodity realised in the market place. Price information is obtained from a wide range of both ABS and non-ABS sources, including marketing authorities and industry sources.

The values used here are ‘gross value of agricultural commodities produced’ and represent the value placed on recorded production at the wholesale prices realised in the market place. Market place, in general, is the metropolitan market in each state. In cases where commodities are consumed locally, or where they become raw material for a secondary industry, these points are presumed to be the market place.

The method of collection of relevant prices for agricultural commodities and the costs of marketing these commodities vary considerably between states and between commodities. Where a statutory authority handles marketing of the whole or a portion of a product, price data are usually obtained from this source. Price information is also obtained from marketing reports, wholesalers, brokers and auctioneers. For all commodities, values are in respect of production during the year (or season) irrespective of when payments are made.

Estimates for small areas such as LGAs are only available for years in which an Agricultural Census is conducted. The most recent Agricultural Census was conducted in respect of 2000-01.

Value of agricultural production estimates are subject to standard error. Estimates with a relative standard error (RSE) between 25% and 50% are annotated with the symbol ‘ * ’ , indicating that the estimates are considered too unreliable for general use.

Further information on value of agricultural production can be obtained in the ABS publication Agricultural Commodities 2000-01 (cat. no 7121.0).

Local government finances

The statistics on selected financial aggregates relating to the activities of local government authorities are compiled from data provided by the Department of Local Government, Planning, Sport and Recreation for the year ended 30 June 2004. Total expenses and total revenues are shown in the operating statements of councils; and total assets, total liabilities, net debt and net financial worth are shown in their balance sheets.

Note that information in these profiles at the total Queensland level may differ from those published for 2003-04 in Government Finance Statistics, Australia (cat. no. 5512.0), because of further editing of the information received from local government authorities.

For further information about these data see Government Finance Statistics, Australia (cat. no. 5512.0).

Tourist accommodation

Information on tourist accommodation was obtained from the quarterly Survey of Tourist Accommodation, which for 2004 included the following categories of establishments which provided predominantly short-term non-residential accommodation to the general public:
  • hotels and resorts with facilities and 15 or more rooms,
  • motels, private hotels and guest houses with facilities and 15 or more rooms and
  • serviced apartments with 15 or more units.

For further information see Tourist Accommodation, Australia (cat. no. 8635.0).

Single location businesses

An extract from the Australian Business Register for 30 June 2001 included counts of entities with Australian Business Numbers operating from a single location at the postcode geographic level in Queensland. The data were concorded by the ABS to the ASGC geographic levels of SD and LGA used in these profiles.

Housing

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) is the state’s professional association for the real estate industry and exists to support member real estate agents with information, products and resources. REIQ provided data on housing sales, median prices and average prices to the ABS for the year 2004.

The base data are sourced from the Queensland Valuation and Sales database, maintained by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines.

Schools and students

The SD and LGA statistics in these profiles were provided by the Queensland Department of Education and the Arts. These were compiled from the annual National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC), which is a collaborative arrangement between state, territory and Australian Government education authorities and the ABS. The NSSC uses a set of concepts, definitions and classifications developed jointly by these agencies.

For further information see Schools, Australia (cat. no. 4221.0).

Motor vehicles on register

Data for motor vehicles on register were extracted from the Motor Vehicle Census of 31 March 2004 by postcode of the registered owner.

Motor vehicle registration statistics are compiled from data made available by various state and territory motor vehicle registration authorities and reflect the information as recorded in registration documents. The statistics cover all vehicles registered with a state or territory government motor vehicle registry for unrestricted use on public roads with the following exceptions:
  • diplomatic vehicles and
  • vehicles registered by the defence forces.

Vehicles registered out of the state, or vehicles where the postcodes of owners could not be allocated to an LGA/SD are excluded. As a result, the Queensland totals do not agree with totals published in Motor Vehicle Census, Australia (cat. no. 9309.0), where these vehicles are included as ‘Out of state/unspecified’.

Further information can be obtained in Motor Vehicle Census, Australia (cat. no. 9309.0).