27 Sep Communities in Focus – Australia’s Indigenous Communities

Australia is shortly to embark on a significant event in its history – a nationwide referendum focused on establishing constitutional recognition of the First Peoples of Australia through the establishment of a body to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Australia’s Indigenous population, representing many cultures, languages, and traditions, has experienced longstanding disparities in relation to healthcare, education, employment, and housing. Much work has been undertaken, and will continue to be done, to address these issues and improve the quality of life for Australia’s First Peoples.

To support evidence-based policies and strategies, REMPLAN has over many years developed a suite of place-focused demographic and forecasting resources.  These tools are designed for strategic planners and researchers and deliver detailed insights into the unique characteristics of our communities.

Further to this aim, new ‘Communities in Focus’ functionality has been added to REMPLAN Community software. The first application of this tool is to deliver new insights into the socio-economic characteristics of Indigenous communities across Australia.  The intention is for such insights to play an important role in the formulation of policies supporting Indigenous communities.

The effective design and implementation of such policies necessitate an in-depth understanding of the diverse and multifaceted characteristics of Indigenous communities across Australia. Herein lies the significance of the ‘Communities in Focus’ functionality.

‘Communities in Focus’ offers a new level of granularity in demographic insights.  By cross-tabulating indigenous status with demographic variables including age, education, occupation, income, home ownership, need for assistance, and health condition by location, this tool unveils nuanced portraits of communities’ Indigenous people.

One of the noteworthy aspects of ‘Communities in Focus’ is its capacity to highlight the intersections of these variables in shaping the well-being and needs of Indigenous communities. For example, it can reveal how Indigenous Status correlates with age distribution, income levels, and education and with health outcomes. This level of insight empowers policymakers to tailor policies and programs to address the specific challenges that may be confronted by individual Indigenous communities.

Age distribution – Indigenous compared with non-Indigenous communities

Long term health conditions – Indigenous compared with non-Indigenous communities

Furthermore, ‘Communities in Focus’ provides the ability to track changes and progress over time. Analyses of trends delivers insights into the efficacy of policies and assists in allocating resources where they are most required.

For Indigenous leaders and other advocates, the ‘Communities in Focus’ insights represent a robust means of conveying nuanced information to the public and policymakers regarding the unique attributes and challenges faced by the people in these communities.

The Indigenous ‘Communities in Focus’ functionality can be added to REMPLAN Community datasets at no additional cost.  If this is of interest, please click the button below to contact us today.  Please note that ‘Communities in Focus’ functionality is data dependent and not available for all areas.

Don’t have REMPLAN Community?  Contact us for a demonstration or enquire about plans and pricing.

What’s next?

REMPLAN will develop a range of ‘Communities in Focus’ to offer valuable demographic insights into groups in your community who share characteristics. For example:

• Youth
• Elderly
• Low income
• Language spoken.
  
  

Questions?

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding REMPLAN Community, and the new ‘Communities in Focus’ functionality.