2017-09-12 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                          12 SEPTEMBER 2017


REPORTS FOR NOTING BY THE COMMITTEE


5    NOOSA RESULTS FOR 2016 RURAL AND REGIONAL WELLBEING SURVEY

Author            Community Development Manager, Alison Hamblin
                  Community Services
Index             ECM/Subject/ 69.03 Community and Development

Attachments       1.   Report on Noosa results from November 2016 Rural and Regional
                       Wellbeing Survey


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not applicable.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Community Development Manager to the Services &
Organisation Committee Meeting dated 12 September 2017 and the results for Noosa in the
University of Canberra’s Rural and Regional Wellbeing Survey November 2016.

REPORT
Background
In November 2016 the University of Canberra held the Regional Wellbeing Survey for the ninth
time. Noosa Council created the How happy is Noosa? campaign to encourage the community to
participate in this survey. Council became involved to firstly gauge how the community felt about
their personal and the community’s wellbeing. Secondly, Council was interested in finding where
Noosa people felt there were issues in liveability in the shire for further planning and decision-
making processes.
12,891 people from rural and regional Australia took part in the survey; 1,953 from regional
Queensland, with Noosa representing 320 of those responses. Other comparable areas received
a response rate of 45 (Sunshine Coast), and 105 (Gold Coast, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Logan,
Moreton Bay, Redland, Scenic Rim and Somerset), showing that Noosa offered a markedly
greater response as a result of the How Happy is Noosa? campaign.

Presentation of Noosa’s Results
Results from the University of Canberra were presented to Council in August 2017 as tables of
comparison between Noosa’s results and those of rural and regional Australia, rural and regional
Queensland, Southern Coastal Queensland (Gold Coast, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Logan,
Moreton Bay, Redland, Scenic Rim and Somerset), and the Sunshine Coast.
Attachment 1 - Noosa Results for Regional Wellbeing Survey 2016 - has been adapted from
those results, with focus specifically being on comparisons between the Noosa Shire results and
those of regional Australia and Queensland, as there was little response and consequently little
data from the Sunshine Coast and Southern Coastal Queensland that is comparable. Data was
sourced from the 2016 Regional Wellbeing Survey, QLD Southern Coastal and Sunshine Coast
region data tables, Version 1.01 July 2017. Results include community responses to survey
questions regarding: personal wellbeing, community wellbeing, personal financial wellbeing,
community economic wellbeing, health wellbeing, community leadership and collaboration, social
connectedness, access to services, crime and safety perceptions, landscape and aesthetics and
perceived environmental health.


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