Community Wellbeing Indices.

This data set is published in the technical report prepared for the Independent Assessment of the Social and Economic Conditions in the Basin Independent Assessment of the Social and Economic Conditions in the Basin.

Dataset 1 (Local Government Area data for different dimensions of Community wellbeing):

This dataset provides data for individual Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the Murray-Darling Basin for different dimensions of community wellbeing. The categorisation indicates whether a community was considered to have poorer than average, average, or better than average outcomes from Regional Australia scores for each dimension. This dataset also includes the remoteness classification of the Local Government areas and the population figures for the years 2006, 2011 and 2016.

Dataset 2 (Ratings of access to different services and infrastructure, by Local Government Area):

This dataset identifies average scores for access to services and infrastructure by local government area. There are some limitations to this data: in particular, in less populated areas, there was insufficient sample in some LGAs to analyse data for that LGA on its own. In these cases, the data reported are for 2-4 LGAs of similar remoteness, located adjacent to each other, with the average score for respondents in those two to four LGAs.

Dataset 3 (Population , Economic Diversity, Dependence on agriculture, and drought incidence):

This dataset covers population figures for 2006 and 2016, changes in economic diversity , changes in dependence on agriculture, irrigation dependence and Drought severity on the LGAs

Source:

Schirmer J and Mylek M (2020) Thriving, surviving, or declining communities: socio-economic change in Murray–Darling Basin communities, report to the the Panel for the Independent Assessment of Social and Economic Conditions in the Murray–Darling Basin. Raw data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for the years 2006, 2011, and 2016, Hutchinson Drought Severity Index from 2001 to 2018, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) for the year 2017 and Regional Wellbeing Survey (RWS) 2018 are used to develop the datasets in this Sheet.

Note:

The Regional Wellbeing Survey is open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants, and each year around 100 to 150 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people participate in the survey. However, this is a small sample, and the survey does not currently include some topics known to be important to the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – for example, topics examining connection to country, or experiences of racism. This means the Regional Wellbeing Survey can provide some insight but not a comprehensive understanding of factors important to the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders" (Schirmer, J, Mylek, M, Peel, D, Yabsley, B (2015) People and Communities, The 2014 Regional Wellbeing Survey, Report 1 People and Communities, University of Canberra).

Estimated Residential Population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the MDB

License:

This publication is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

Contact:

lana.hartwig@griffith.edu.au https://www.griffith.edu.au/australian-rivers-institute

Source:

Hartwig, L.D., & Jackson, S. (2020). The status of Aboriginal water holdings in the Murray-Darling Basin. ARI Report No. 2020/004. Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Australia