2015-03-03 Planning & Organisation Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                         3 MARCH 2015


The ABS has developed Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA). One of these, the
Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD) summarises variables that indicate
relative disadvantage. This index ranks areas on a continuum from most disadvantaged to
least disadvantaged. A low score on this index indicates a high proportion of relatively
disadvantaged people in an area. A high score has a relatively low incidence of
disadvantage2.

When applied collectively across the nine localities it shows a small level of variance
between localities. In 2011 those localities considered to be more disadvantaged were
Noosa North Shore, Boreen Point, Kin Kin and Cootharaba, Tewantin and Federal to Ringtail
Creek. Scoring between 955.9 and 976.5 these were all lower than the Australian average
being 1,000.
Areas reporting lower levels of relative disadvantage were Noosa Heads, Noosaville and
Doonan and Sunshine Beach to Peregian Beach.

Noosa Shire as a whole had a score of 1,000.9 suggesting it is slightly more disadvantaged
than the SEQ region which scored 1,015.2.

Importantly however, within each of the 9 localities there is considerable variation and there
are several SA1s where the score was below 920, as low as 843 in a couple of SA1s. By
comparison there are SA1s with scores over 1100, going as high as 1145.

The ABS acknowledges that as measures of socio-economic conditions, the indexes are
best interpreted as ordinal measures that rank (order) areas and recommend using the index
rankings and deciles for analysis, rather than using the index scores. For that reason a map
has been included in the appendix of the AEC report rather than the table of scores.

For Councillors’ information the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and
Disadvantage (IRSAD) summarises variables that indicate either relative advantage or
disadvantage. This index ranks areas on a continuum from most disadvantaged to most
advantaged. An area with a high score on this index has a relatively high incidence of
advantage and a relatively low incidence of disadvantage.

Due to the differences in scope between this index and the IRSD, the scores of some areas
can vary substantially between the two indexes. For example, in an area that has parts
containing relatively disadvantaged people, and other parts containing relatively advantaged
people (as can occur through regeneration of an older suburb) it may have a low IRSD
ranking, due to its pockets of disadvantage. However, its IRSAD ranking may be moderate,
or even above average, because the pockets of advantage may offset the pockets of
disadvantage. For this reason it might be a truer reflection of the area but disguise the level
of disadvantage present for some.

While the AEC report includes the IRSD a comparative map of the IRSAD is provided below.
Both indexes could be included if Council prefers and individual maps are available for each
of the 9 localities.




2
 This is a useful index for identifying pockets of disadvantage because there is no “contamination” by
measures of advantage, however it might not give the best overall representation of a community.


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