Appendix 2: Changes resulting from the July 2016 update to the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)
In July 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the second edition of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). This updated the first edition (introduced in 2011) to account for areas of growth and change in Australia's population and infrastructure. It also incorporated the Territory of Norfolk Island for the first time.
A feature of the ABS Structures within the ASGS is the stability of areas across editions which enables better comparison of data over time. 2114 or 95.5% of the 2,214 SA2s from the 2011 ASGS remained effectively unchanged*. Areas are changed to ensure that the boundaries continue to reflect changes on the ground such as new residential development. The ABS structures aim to do this as far as possible by splitting existing boundaries which enables their parts to be put back together for comparison with past data. Accordingly, 62 of the 2011 ASGS SA2s have been split to incorporate areas of growth within the existing boundaries and this is the most common reason for change within the SA2s. Other geographic changes that have resulted from the 2016 update to SA2s include a small number of amalgamations (6 of the 2011 SA2s were amalgamated) as well as other minor changes, for example to match boundaries to updated mapping.
In the 2016 ASGS, there are 2,310 SA2 regions covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. This figure represents an increase from 2,214 in 2011 and includes 18 non-spatial SA2 special purpose codes, comprising Migratory–Offshore–Shipping and No Usual Address codes for each State and Territory.
The Local Government Areas (LGAs) are part of the Non ABS Structures in the ASGS. This means that the ABS does not control changes to these boundaries but approximates them using Mesh Blocks to enable ABS data to be released on these important administrative areas. Changes to LGAs are driven by administrative rather than statistical reasons and because of this LGAs tend to be less stable over time than the SA2s. During the period from 2011 to 2016, 522 of the 577 LGAs have remained effectively unchanged**.
In the 2016 ASGS, there are 563 LGA regions covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. This figure represents a decrease from 577 in 2011 and includes 18 non-spatial LGA special purpose codes, comprising Migratory–Offshore–Shipping and No Usual Address codes for each State and Territory.
The codes and names that are associated with statistical areas can also change when an area changes and users should be aware of this. The ABS Structures within the ASGS have a hierarchical coding system and this means that the code for an area can change even if an area has not changed itself, for example an SA2 may not have changed but if it is within an SA3 that has changed then both the SA3 and SA2 code will have changed.
For more information on SA2s including code changes please refer to APPENDIX 2: ASGS CODING AND LABELLING CHANGES within Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2016 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001).
For more information on LGAs please refer to Australian Statistical Geography Standard(ASGS): Volume 3 - Non ABS Structures, July 2016 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.003).
Users wanting to understand the geographic changes to boundaries in the ASGS in more detail can view the boundaries in ABS Maps. This is an online mapping tool that allows users to compare two different sets of boundaries across different editions of the ASGS.
*determined using the 2011 SA2 to 2016 SA2 population weighted correspondence.
**determined using the 2011 LGA to 2016 LGA population weighted correspondence.
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