1370.0 - Measures of Australia's Progress, 2013  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 14/11/2013   
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Measures of Australia's Progress

Informed public debate

Australians aspire to well-informed and vibrant public debate

Image: Question mark - Data gap

A data gap currently exists for informed public debate

    Why is this theme important?

    Australians told us that public debate should allow a diversity of voices and views to be heard and considered, and that information should be reported accurately, clearly and not be biased by conflicts of interest. They saw public debate as occurring in many places, for example, through the media and electronic information sharing channels, as well as parliamentary and political debating platforms. For this to happen effectively, they thought that these platforms should be effectively regulated whilst allowing people the freedom to access information.

    In MAP there are several types of data gaps where:
    1. the concept is not yet developed enough to measure;
    2. the concept is important for progress but may not lend itself to meaningful measurement;
    3. there is no data of sufficient quality to inform on progress; or
    4. there is only one data point, so a progress assessment cannot be made.

    A range of possible indicators are being considered for assessing informed public debate, but the concept is broad and difficult to summarise in any one measure. In order to capture the spirit of this idea in a measure, further development will need to be undertaken. We will continue to explore options for a suitable indicator in the future.

    But that is not the whole story...

    While there are several elements to this theme of informed public debate, each is currently a data gap due to the difficulties in measuring progress in this area. We will continue to explore options for suitable indicators in the future.
A data gap currently exists for open and informed debate

In MAP there are several types of data gaps where:
1. the concept is not yet developed enough to measure;
2. the concept is important for progress but may not lend itself to meaningful measurement;
3. there is no data of sufficient quality to inform on progress; or
4. there is only one data point, so a progress assessment cannot be made.

A range of possible indicators are being considered for open and informed debate. In order to capture the spirit of this idea in a measure, further development will need to be undertaken. We will continue to explore options for a suitable indicator in the future.

But that is not the whole story...

While there are other elements besides open and informed debate within the theme of informed public debate, each is currently a data gap due to the difficulties in measuring progress in this area. We will continue to explore options for suitable indicators in the future.
A data gap currently exists for freedom to pursue and access truth/facts

In MAP there are several types of data gaps where:
1. the concept is not yet developed enough to measure;
2. the concept is important for progress but may not lend itself to meaningful measurement;
3. there is no data of sufficient quality to inform on progress; or
4. there is only one data point, so a progress assessment cannot be made.

A range of possible indicators are being considered for freedom to pursue and access truth/facts. In order to capture the spirit of this idea in a measure, further development will need to be undertaken. We will continue to explore options for a suitable indicator in the future.

But that is not the whole story...

While there are other elements besides freedom to pursue and access truth/facts within the theme of informed public debate, each is currently a data gap due to the difficulties in measuring progress in this area. We will continue to explore options for suitable indicators in the future.
A data gap currently exists for a free media

In MAP there are several types of data gaps where:
1. the concept is not yet developed enough to measure;
2. the concept is important for progress but may not lend itself to meaningful measurement;
3. there is no data of sufficient quality to inform on progress; or
4. there is only one data point, so a progress assessment cannot be made.

At the moment we are considering this element to be the second type of data gap listed above, i.e. although the concept is important for progress, it may not lend itself to meaningful measurement. This being the case, while we will continue to consider this area of progress, there is no guarantee that we will have a progress indicator for it in the future.

But that is not the whole story...

While there are other elements besides a free media within the theme of informed public debate, each is currently a data gap due to the difficulties in measuring progress in this area. We will continue to explore options for suitable indicators in the future.
A data gap currently exists for effective regulation

In MAP there are several types of data gaps where:
1. the concept is not yet developed enough to measure;
2. the concept is important for progress but may not lend itself to meaningful measurement;
3. there is no data of sufficient quality to inform on progress; or
4. there is only one data point, so a progress assessment cannot be made.

A range of possible indicators are being considered for effective regulation. In order to capture the spirit of this idea in a measure, further development will need to be undertaken. We will continue to explore options for a suitable indicator in the future.

But that is not the whole story...

While there are other elements besides effective regulation within the theme of informed public debate, each is currently a data gap due to the difficulties in measuring progress in this area. We will continue to explore options for suitable indicators in the future.