4609.0.55.003 - Land Account: Queensland, Experimental Estimates, 2011 - 2016 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 15/06/2017   
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EXPLANATORY NOTES

INTRODUCTION

1 This publication, Land Account: Queensland, Experimental Estimates, 2011-2016, adds to the existing suite of environmental economic accounts produced by the ABS. The Land Account is based on the United Nations (UN) System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) and demonstrates a method for reporting change in land use, land cover and land value. This publication contains a series of statistical accounting tables adapted from the SEEA Central Framework 2012, as well as Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) data for the State of Queensland and various statistical geographies.

2 The Land Account consolidates data from different sources, making it possible to link physical data to economic data, such as those used in Australia's National Accounts.


ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING FRAMEWORK

3 The SEEA is an environmental economic accounting framework developed by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).

4 This publication has been produced in accordance with the SEEA and follows previous Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Land Accounts using this system - Land Account: South Australia, Experimental Estimates, 2006 - 2011 (cat. no. 4609.4.55.001), Land Account: Great Barrier Reef Region, Experimental Estimates, 2014 (cat. no. 4609.0.55.001), Land Account: Queensland, Experimental Estimates, 2013 (cat. no. 4609.0.55.003), Land Account: Victoria, Experimental Estimates, 2012 (cat. no. 4609.0.55.002) and Land Account: Great Barrier Reef Region, Experimental Estimates, 2011 (cat. no. 4609.0.55.001).

5 For further information on environmental-economic accounting please refer to the ABS Information Papers: Completing the Picture - Environmental Accounting in Practice, May 2012 (cat. no. 4628.0.55.001), Information Paper: Towards the Australian Environmental-Economic Accounts, 2013 (cat. no. 4655.0.55.002), Information Paper: What are Environmental Accounts?, 2008 (cat. no. 4655.0.55.001), Towards an Integrated Environmental-Economic Account for Australia, 2010 (cat. no. 4655.0.55.001), and the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD).


DATA CUBES

6 The table below provides a summary of all data cubes included in the Downloads tab.

Publication Datacubes

Data cube/table numberData cube nameAttributeReporting unitsOutput geography

Table 1Monetary account for land use by Queensland TotalLand useUnimproved land value ($)State level
Table 2Physical account for land use by Queensland TotalLand useHectares (ha) State level
Table 3Land use net change matrix by Queensland TotalLand useUnimproved land value ($)State level
Table 4Land use net change matrix by Queensland TotalLand useHectares (ha) State level
Table 5Physical account for broad land Queensland TotalLand coverHectares (ha) NRMR and State level
Table 6Physical account for detailed land Queensland TotalLand coverHectares (ha) NRMR and State level
Table 7Broad land cover net change matrixLand coverHectares (ha) NRMR and State level
Table 8Detailed land cover net change matrixLand coverHectares (ha) NRMR and State level
Table 9Great Barrier Reef AccountLand use
Land cover
Unimproved land value ($)
Hectares (ha)
Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Region
Table 10Statistical Area Level 2 dataLand use
Land cover
Counts of land parcels
Unimproved land value ($)
Hectares (ha)
Count (no)
Percent change (%)
Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2)

Note: Natural Resource Management Regions (NRMRs) and Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) digital boundaries are sourced from the 2016 edition of the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).

7 The Queensland Land Account Tables (Table 1-10 in the Downloads tab) have been made available as Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets. Summary data in the Summary of Findings presents land use changes between 30 June 2011 and 30 June 2016, and land cover changes between the two year intervals of January 2010 to December 2011 and January 2014 to December 2015. A more detailed view of this data is shown in Tables 1-8 in the form of statistical accounting tables that have been guided by templates in the SEEA Central Framework 2012.

8 Table 9 presents a combination of statistical accounting tables measuring land use and land cover changes within the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region. This has been created specifically for the ABS publication Experimental Environmental-Economic Accounts for the Great Barrier Reef scheduled for release on 17 August 2017. Please see the Feature Article for more detail.

9 This publication also includes several experimental outputs not guided by the SEEA framework. Table 10 provides summary data on land use, land cover and counts of land parcels for all Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2s) in Queensland.


COVERAGE AND GEOGRAPHY

10 The land use statistical tables (Tables 1-4 on the Downloads tab) have been created for the State of Queensland, while the land cover statistical tables (Tables 5-8 on the Downloads tab) have been created for the State of Queensland and all associated Natural Resource Management Regions (NRMRs), including: Burnett Mary, Cape York, Condamine, Cooperative Management Area, Desert Channels, Fitzroy, Burdekin, Northern Gulf, Border Rivers Maranoa-Balonne, Mackay Whitsunday, South East Queensland, South West Queensland, Southern Gulf, Wet Tropics and Torres Strait. The NRMRs presented in this publication have been labelled in accordance with the official names from the Australian Government National Landcare Programme website <http://www.nrm.gov.au>. Please see the Classifications (Appendix) page for more information.

11 For the purpose of this publication, an amalgamation of the following Natural Resource Management Regions (NRMRs) provides a definition of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Region: Burnett Mary, Cape York, Fitzroy, Burdekin, Mackay Whitsunday and Wet Tropics. Users should note that the extent of the GBR region has been created using whole NRMR boundaries to maintain the integrity and consistency of the ABS Statistical Geography - ASGS. This includes the entire Cape York NRMR, which is atypical in GBR-related publications as Cape York's westward-draining basins do not drain directly into the Reef marine ecosystem. The Cape York NRMR, however, has a very small population and low economic activity relative to other GBR NRMRs, which hampers the availability and quality of economic and social data sources, and impacts on detail preservation due to confidentiality requirements. Other ABS and non-ABS publications have varied from this definition by including only part of the Cape York NRMR.

REFERENCE MAP - QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
Map: Reference map of Natural Resource Management Regions (NRMRs) in Queensland, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef region
Source: Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2016 - Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) © Commonwealth of Australia, 2017

12 Summary data have been produced for every Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) within Queensland. This publication uses the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS), containing boundaries, labels and codes for the Statistical Area units and capital cities. The ASGS replaced the Australian Standard Geographic Classification (ASGC) in July 2011. For further information please refer to the ABS Statistical Geography Portal.


INTERPRETING THE LAND ACCOUNT TABLES

Physical and monetary accounts

13 Table 1, 2, 5 and 6 in the Downloads tab are physical (hectares) and monetary (dollars) accounts for land use and land cover. These tables present the opening and closing stocks of land area or land value for different land uses or land covers. They also show additions and reductions in land area or land value and the reasons for these additions and reductions.

14 The monetary account for land use includes a revaluations category, which presents changes in the land value due solely to valuation changes over the accounting period. The accounts in this publication only present total additions and total reductions in land value or land area, with the exception of revaluations which are identified in the monetary account. The data used in this account do not provide sufficient contextual information to attribute reasons for change.

Net change matrices

15 Table 3, 4, 7 and 8 in the Downloads tab are net change matrices for land use and land cover in both physical and monetary units. Like the physical and monetary accounts described above, they present the opening and closing stocks of land area or land value for different land uses or land covers. In addition they present the net increase and net decrease of land uses and land covers according to the land use or land cover it was converted from (in the case of increases), or to (in the case of decreases). Finally, they present a total net change for each land use or land cover. The opening stock was calculated by summing all land use or land cover values by type for the beginning of the reference period. The closing stock was calculated by summing the opening stock and the total net change in land value or land area for each land use or land cover type. It is important to understand that the matrices show net changes, which may mask information. For example, if 100 hectares of 'Livestock Grazing' is lost in one place but added elsewhere, then no net change would be shown.


SOURCE DATA

16 This publication was produced using information from a number of Commonwealth and State Government Departments. The ABS gratefully acknowledges the assistance provided by these agencies. The datasets are described below:

Dynamic Land Cover Data

17 Dynamic Land Cover Dataset (DLCD) - Geoscience Australia (GA), in collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES). The Dynamic Land Cover Dataset (DLCD) v2.1 has been used in this publication. The DLCD is the first nationally consistent and thematically comprehensive land cover reference for Australia. DLCD provides a baseline for identifying and reporting on change and trends in vegetation cover and extent.

18 The DLCD includes snapshots of vegetation greenness for each 250 metre by 250 metre grid cell with each layer based on 2 years of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. The classification scheme used to describe land cover categories in the DLCD conforms to the 2007 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) land cover standard (19144-2). The DLCD shows Australia's land cover grouped into 23 classes (detailed), and further aggregates into 9 classes (broad). These reflect the structural character of vegetation, ranging from cultivated and managed land covers (crops and pastures) to natural land covers such as forest and grasslands.

19 The source data for the DLCD is a time series of Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data from the MODIS on the Terra and Aqua satellites operated by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The ABS has used DLCD based on MODIS data from 2010-2011 and 2014-2015 for the Queensland Land Account. Metadata for the DLCD v2.1 <http://www.ga.gov.au/metadata-gateway/metadata/record/83868>.

Land Valuations file

20 Land Valuations file (also referred to as Valuer-General's (VG) data) has been sourced from the State of Queensland (Department of Natural Resources and Mines). The valuations file provides information on land use and land values for properties. Users should note that the land use data in this publication is representative of the primary land use for a property.

21 Disclaimer: In consideration of the State permitting use of this data the data users acknowledge and agree that the State gives no warranty in relation to the data (including accuracy, reliability, completeness, currency or suitability) and accepts no liability (including without limitation, liability in negligence) for any loss, damage or costs (including consequential damage) relating to any use of the data. Data must not be used for direct marketing or be used in breach of the privacy laws.

Cadastre

22 CadLite® - Public Sector Mapping Agency (PSMA). This spatial dataset contains land parcel and property information from across Australia and includes names of suburbs and boundary locations. It is a digital representation of the location, extent and shape of land parcels in Australia, and excludes other definitions of land such as easements for access or services and land reserved for transportation purposes.

23 Further information is available from the PSMA website: <http://www.psma.com.au>.


DATA CURRENCY

24 The two datasets used to produce the statistical tables are Land Valuations from the State of Queensland and Geoscience Australia's DLCD Version v2.1 product. The Queensland valuations data represents land use and value as at 30 June 2011 and 30 June 2016, while valuations have been weighted to the corresponding years in Australian System of National Accounts, 2015-16 (cat. no. 5204.0). The ABS has used DLCD based on MODIS data from January 2010 to December 2011 and January 2014 to December 2015. Users should note the discrepancy between the Land Valuations and DLCD reference periods.

25 The primary aim of this publication was to develop a consistent and repeatable methodology for producing a regular suite of State and Territory Land Accounts. This aim drove the selection of the primary data sets used.


DATA QUALITY

26 Tables 1-10 in the Downloads tab are experimental, and as such the estimates should be used with caution. In compiling these tables the ABS has identified issues with the coverage, completeness and accuracy of the administrative data sets used. It is expected that these issues will be addressed as the methods and underlying datasets mature.

27 This publication has been produced from administrative information and satellite imagery. The validation of data accuracy has been a major challenge. For example, no other directly comparable land use change information for the accounting period was available to verify the output tables.

28 A considerable proportion of land reported in Tables 1-4 has been classified as 'Unallocated' and 'Not Classified' land use. 'Unallocated' represents land uses that could not be allocated to the Australian Valuations Property Classification Code (AVPCC). 'Not Classified' represents areas where no land use information was available (this includes transport easements). These classes suggest potential classification inconsistencies and poor data coverage in some areas.

29 The PSMA CadLite product was used as the foundation spatial boundary for the land use tables (Tables 1-4). The cadastral boundaries may have undergone small adjustments between the accounting periods. These adjustments can cause small artificial changes between land use types. This issue was largely overcome by linking data for the two accounting periods using a tabular join (see paragraph 33). However a small percentage of properties are still affected by this issue.

30 Primary land use is assigned according to the highest land value. The methodology of assigning a primary land use where multiple cadastral properties overlap (see paragraph 34) has resulted in some artificial changes in land use and land value (Tables 1-4). Lower valued land use types are also more vulnerable to changes due to this methodology.

31 Tables 5-8 in the Downloads tab present changes in land cover. The supporting DLCD remains in a testing phase. As such, the information should be interpreted cautiously and with reference to product descriptions provided by the data custodians, Geoscience Australia (GA). The 'Urban Areas', 'Extraction Sites', 'Irrigated Sugar' and 'Rainfed Sugar' classes in the DLCD do not change over time due to the difficultly in characterising these land covers using Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) time series. As a consequence users who wish to track the change in extent of these classes should refer to alternative data sources. These land cover types have also been included in the broad aggregations for 'Urban Areas and Extraction Sites', 'Rainfed Lands' and 'Irrigated Lands'. The following are some other known issues with the DLCD:
  • Small areas of new forest are not consistently being detected;
  • Steep south west facing slopes may lack data and accordingly may contain isolated tussock grass or sedge pixels; and
  • Changes in the extent of irrigation in vineyards, orchards and olive groves are not consistently being detected.


METHOD

Land use tables

32 The PSMA CadLite product was used as the building block for the land use tables (Tables 1-4). This provided a spatial index of land parcels. The land valuations files were linked to CadLite for their corresponding accounting periods using a tabular join based on Lot/Plan and property identifiers. These datasets were the source for land values and land use classification in this publication. This account has only presented land values which are used for local government rating purposes and land tax assessment.

33 The cadastral data for both accounting periods were linked together to enable the presentation of land use changes over time. The issue of land parcel polygon shifts has caused spatial misalignment of the cadastre between the two reference years. To minimise this problem the accounting periods were linked using two separate approaches. Where possible, properties have been linked using a tabular join based on property identifiers. This was limited to properties that had no geometry changes during the accounting period or overlapping polygons in the cadastre for individual years. The tabular linked records for both periods were spatially joined to the 2016 version of the cadastre. This captured approximately 85% of valuation records within Queensland. The remaining 15% were linked together using a spatial overlay.

34 A small proportion of the remaining valuation records linked to properties that contained overlaps in the cadastre for individual years. These overlaps were treated by splitting and merging properties into new objects. This enabled all valuations to be included and prevented double counting of land area. Where multiple valuations fall on the same object their values were summed. These valuations can have different land use classifications reflecting multiple uses at the site. Where this occurred a primary land use was allocated based on the land use type with greatest land value. The primary land use method was chosen to facilitate reporting change between two time periods. The two accounting periods were then associated using a geographical union.

35 Both the tabular and union datasets were merged together and spatially intersected with the Queensland State layer and the Natural Resource Management Regions (NRMRs) in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Region. In some cases this process split properties that crossed geographical boundaries. The land value was subsequently apportioned across these properties based on land area. In cases where land use information for a property was available for one reference period but not another, imputation was applied to populate the missing information. As a result no change in land use or value was captured for these properties.

36 The land use classification used in this publication is shown on the Classifications (Appendix) page. In order to develop consistent Land Accounts for all jurisdictions in Australia, the land use classification applied needs to be consistent for all States and Territories. The ABS has chosen to apply the Australian Valuation Property Classification Codes (AVPCC) to all States and Territories, as it is promoted as a national standard for land valuations. For the Queensland Land Account, a concordance between the Queensland land use classification and AVPCC has been created by the ABS.

37 The secondary AVPCC class 'Primary Production' has been split into 'Agriculture Cropping - Sugar Cane', 'Agriculture Cropping - All Other', 'Livestock Grazing', 'Livestock - Special Purpose Structures', 'Horticulture - Orchards', 'Horticulture - All Other', 'Horticulture - Special Purpose Structural Improvements', and 'Forestry - Commercial Timber Production'. The two primary AVPCC classes 'Infrastructure/Utilities' and 'Community Services' have been merged as 'Infrastructure, Utilities and Community Services'. All other categories are presented at the AVPCC primary level.

38 A custom 'Unallocated' class has been added for properties with land use codes that could not be placed in the AVPCC. A 'Vacant Residential' class has also been added to capture any vacant land classes under the Queensland Land Use Classification. All other land area not included in the cadastre (including transport corridors) has been categorised as 'Not Classified'. As this is a custom classification not presented in the valuations data, it has not been valued in the monetary tables.

39 The Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA) publishes total land value for the State of Queensland for 'Residential', 'Commercial' and 'Rural' land use types. Tables 1 and 3 present data consistent with Australian System of National Accounts, 2015-16 (cat. no. 5204.0) as at 30 June 2011 and 30 June 2016. The Classifications (Appendix) page shows the concordance between the land use classification used for the Land Account and ASNA published values.

40 The 'Commercial' and 'Rural' land uses in ASNA are sourced from Queensland valuations data, however there are small discrepancies between the raw land values provided for Land Accounting and ASNA purposes, due to differences in extraction dates and method. To ensure land values presented in the Queensland Land Account align with the ASNA, Tables 1 and 3 were weighted to ASNA reported values for 'Commercial' and 'Rural' land. For residential land, the ASNA uses data compiled for the ABS Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) on the value of residential dwelling stock, which includes the value of land. The estimate for residential land is the RPPI value of the dwelling stock, minus the capital estimates of the value of dwellings derived by the Perpetual Inventory Method (see Chapter 14 of Australian System of National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2015 (cat. no. 5216.0). 'Residential' and 'Vacant Residential' land in the Queensland Land Account has also been weighted to the ASNA values.

41 Australian System of National Accounts, 2015-16 (cat. no. 5204.0) also includes an 'Other' land use, valued at $78.2 and $67.3 billion in Queensland for 30 June 2011 and 30 June 2016 respectively. This is non-rateable land, including: Crown land, National Parks and other land owned by government, as well as land held under Native Title and other arrangements. Some government land is included in the 'Unallocated' classification in Tables 1-4. However this could not be separated and aligned to the National Accounts 'Other' land use class. This has led to an overall discrepancy in the total land value reported by the Queensland Land Account and Australian System of National Accounts, 2015-16 (cat. no. 5204.0).

42 There is an overall discrepancy in total land value reported in the Queensland Land Account and Australian System of National Accounts, 2015-16 (cat. no. 5204.0). This is a result of the inclusion of the 'Other' land use in ASNA, which is not captured in the Land Account due to the absence of non-rateable land within the State valuations data. The Land Account has also included an 'Unallocated' class which includes State valuations data which has been excluded in the ASNA. Some overlap of land uses within the Land Account 'Unallocated' and ASNA 'Other' category may exist, however differences in data complication and classification have made these difficult to align. Further work will be undertaken to better align these methodologies and figures for future releases.

Land cover tables

43 The DLCD v2.1 was provided by GA as a 250 metre x 250 metre grid for Australia. Two reference periods of DLCD v2.1 as at 2010-2011 and 2014-2015 were used to analyse change over time. Within DLCD, each grid cell is attributed with a land cover type based on dominance for the reference period. The DLCD v2.1 land cover classes are detailed on the Classifications (Appendix) page.

44 Using ESRI ArcMap™ software, the DLCD v2.1 for 2010-2011 and 2014-2015 were combined, generating a unique value for each combination of land cover change. The land area of each unique combination that changed from one land cover class to another was then calculated for each NRMR. This enabled the development of the physical account and net change matrix for land cover.

45 The 2010-2011 and 2014-2015 DLCD v2.1 have been resampled to align to the National Nested Grid (NNG). The NNG guideline has been developed by the Australian New Zealand Land Information Council (ANZLIC) NNG Work group. The guideline provides consistent standards/specifications to allow information sharing and effective use of grid cell data. The specifications detailed in the guideline have been used to resample each DLCD v2.1 in the reference period. The NNG guideline can be downloaded from the ANZLIC website <http://www.anzlic.gov.au/resources/national-nested-grid>.

Statistical Area Level 2 data

46 Summary statistics have been created for a range of variables including land use by value, land use by area, land cover by area and counts of land parcels for every Statistical Area 2 (SA2) within the State of Queensland. The purpose of this data is to present stocks and changes in land attributes for small areas (regional data) in a simplified format. This data has been presented in an Excel spreadsheet. The official SA2 boundaries can be downloaded from Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2016 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001).

47 Data on land use by area and land use by value was sourced from the Land Valuations data. This was transferred from the cadastral data to SA2s in Queensland using a spatial intersection, which split land parcel boundaries by the SA2 boundaries. Data on the cadastre that crossed SA2 boundaries were apportioned uniformly based on the distribution of land area. The results were then summarised by SA2 using broad land use categories which aligned to National Accounts land use classification (see Classifications (Appendix) page) including 'Residential', 'Commercial', and 'Rural'. 'Unallocated' and 'Not Classified' classes were also created to capture any other land uses. Where appropriate, data was suppressed to prevent the release of any information that may identify any individual or organisation.

48 The DLCD v2.1 data was used to create the land cover by area data. Using ESRI ArcMap™ software, the DLCD v2.1 for 2010-2011 and 2014-2015 were again combined, generating a unique value for each combination of land cover change. Data was then resampled to produce a 50 metre by 50 metre resolution grid dataset and the land area of each unique combination that changed from one land cover class to another was then calculated for each SA2. The outputs were then summarised based on the broad DLCD classifications shown on the Classifications (Appendix) page.

49 Counts of land parcels is an analysis of Cadastral data from PSMA CadLite with the aim of showing change over time. This analysis was undertaken using ESRI ArcMap™ software. Since this process reveals where the division or reconfiguration of land has occurred, users will be able to locate changes in settlement patterns and changes in land use. SA2 counts of Cadastral land parcels were produced using the centroid of each parcel. The dates of datasets being used for this analysis are November 2011 and November 2016. Counts were made for five size ranges as a proxy for the expected land uses:
  • 0 - 0.15 ha (predominantly urban residential);
  • 0.15 - 0.4 ha (predominantly mixed uses generally in urban/built up areas);
  • 0.4 - 2 ha (predominantly peri-urban, rural residential but will include urban industrial/commercial and parks);
  • 2 - 10 ha (predominantly peri-urban, rural residential); and
  • >= 10 ha (predominantly agriculture, reserves).

50 Cadastral data is sourced from PSMA's CadLite product. This data is supplied to PSMA by the government agency responsible for maintaining land information in each State and Territory. In some cases, those State and Territory government agencies receive cadastral data updates from local governments. The currency and frequency of data delivery within this supply chain can result in anomalies in the counts of land parcels. This has been largely overcome by comparing periods four and five years apart. Users should be aware that not all cadastral change is associated with land development, and could be caused by historical updates to the cadastre including boundary re-alignments.


CONFIDENTIALITY

51 Where appropriate, data has been suppressed to prevent the release of any information that may identify any individual or organisation.


CLASSIFICATIONS

52 The following classifications were used in this publication:

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

53 Users may also refer to:
54 The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001) is the framework for understanding and interpreting the geographical context of statistics published by the ABS. Further information can be found at the ABS website <https://www.abs.gov.au>.

55 Other ABS environmental-economic accounting publications which have been published in accordance with the SEEA include: Information Paper: An Experimental Ecosystem Account for the Great Barrier Reef Region, 2015 (cat. no. 4680.0.55.001), Energy Account, Australia, 2014-15 (cat. no. 4604.0) and Water Account, Australia, 2014-15 (cat. no. 4610.0).

56 Land, timber and sub-soil assets are also included on the national balance sheet contained in the Australian System of National Accounts, 2013-14 (cat. no. 5204.0). Additionally, information on the land valuation methodology used to produce the national balance sheet on land can be found in the feature article Australian System of National Accounts, 2005-06 (cat. no. 5204.0) - Valuing land and dwellings owned by households.

57 Other ABS publications related to this topic include: