THE ABS REGIONAL STATISTICS PROGRAM
Welcome to the 2013 edition of the Local Government and ABS newsletter. Throughout the year we will be providing regular updates on Rural and Regional Statistics National Centre (RRSNC) initiatives and activities, as well as many other ABS initiatives relevant to local government.
ABS staff in every state and territory have been engaging with local government across the country to provide information and advice about the use of 2011 Census data. These meetings are also useful for ABS in getting feedback on local government data needs and applications of data for local planning. Users have an opportunity to provide input into the development of the 2016 Census and we would like to encourage local government to respond to us before the consultation period ends on 31 May - see our article on the Population Census Developments page of this newsletter for more information.
Local government depend on ABS for local government area population estimates, which have been updated after the recent 2011 Census. ABS has published several articles on this topic, which will be of relevance to local government, including a more recent article on Population Growth and Turnover in Local Government Areas, 2006 to 2011 - featured in this newsletter. In addition, ABS have previously provided articles on the interpretation of Census "enumerated" and "usually resident" populations; and Estimated Resident Population.
Our team at the RRSNC have recently reviewed the Regional Development Australia plans with a view to understanding the data needs that underpin these plans. The summary report from this review will be published on our website soon. The findings were presented to the Australia and New Zealand Regional Science Association annual conference in December, to an interested audience of academics and regional researchers, and are also being used to help inform developments of the ABS work program.
We have continued to engage with the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport - who have a strong interest in regional data for local government, as well as the 55 Regional Development Australia (RDA) regions. Recently more RDA region data was loaded up to the myregion.gov website with ABS support in sourcing the data. RDA regions can be aggregated from LGAs, and are supported by data on ABS geographies. See the Regional Development Australia website for more information about RDAs.
We are pleased to have been invited to lead discussion on statistical matters at a number of local government conferences in 2013. Information about upcoming conferences that RRSNC will be presenting to can be found in the Regional Statistics Schedule page of this newsletter.
We will be keeping you up to date on our plans, releases and appearances with regular updates to the newsletter.
As always, if you have any feedback about this newsletter, or any of the above activities, we would love to hear from you. You can send feedback to regional.statistics@abs.gov.au, or call Gareth Edwards on (08) 8237 7674.
Lisa Conolly
Director
Rural and Regional Statistics National Centre
This page last updated 29 April 2013
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