Focus on Local Government

Cairns uses economy.id to help diversify their economy 

Back in September 2009, it was revealed that Far North Queensland had the highest unemployment rate in the country. The Cairns Regional Council decided to act and immediately established an Economic Development Unit to identify the issues and work on generating programs to grow the economy.  

Read more... 

Census Countdown  

ABS geography - replacing SLAs with SA2s

Probably the most radical change in the new ABS geography is the move to SA2s ("Statistical Area Level 2" - another imaginative name...). These replace Statistical Local Areas (SLAs), which were always a bit misunderstood.  This is the third part in our series on the new ABS geography.Read more... 

inside .id  

We're looking for someone special ...   

We have over 200 councils all across Australia subscribing to our information products and we're passionate about having an excellent, collaborative relationship with our clients.

We're absolutely committed to providing them with outstanding service through training, demographic briefings, specialist consulting and by sharing our demographic and planning knowledge.

Our customer service program is constantly evolving, as evidenced by our new blog and this newsletter to share knowledge across councils. We have just invested in a case study program whereby a professional interviewer (Jim Myhill) is visiting councils to write up stories about how they have used demographic information in their decision making. We can then share this information across our client base to that other councils don't need to reinvent the wheel. If your council would like to be involved please contact us to arrange an interview. 

We are also looking for a new team member for our client team. It's a very interesting and varied role, so if you know anyone who might fit the bill, please send them the link to the job description on our website.  

A word from our researchers

Is there a market for family-style apartment living in Australia?

In which countries of the world do families live in apartments?

I suspect that a significant percentage of families live in apartments in all urbanised (developed and developing) countries - with the exception of New Zealand and Australia. Read more... 

Tips and Tricks  

Counting employment - which figures to use?

One of the most important bits of economic information a council can have is about employment. However there are different ways of measuring employment and it can be confusing figuring out which one to use.This article is designed to help demystify them all and give you an idea of which ones to use when, and what their limitations are. Read more... 

Finalising budgets?

Like most Councils, you are probably in the final stages of setting your 2011/12 budget, and getting it approved by the Elected Body.  Also, with only a month to go, the 2010/11 year end position for most budget lines can be forecast with some accuracy, so you may already know if some budget allocations are likely to be underspent.

So, how can you use any unallocated/unspent budget for this year, effectively and legitimately, while setting your council up for the future, and  which budget line should you use? 

.id products assist in making informed decisions across many areas of Council - planning, community services, economic development, recreation, asset management and much more - so the budget allocation can be made in any of those departments, or, each department could make a small "contribution" towards the total.

That way, any major projects/activities for next year that will need to contain an element of demographic analysis can get a head start, and other departments (and the community) can benefit as well. 

Please contact us to discuss - we'd be happy to share the experiences of other councils that have been through a similar process. 

Is there anything in Australia's new Sustainable Population Strategy?   

Two weeks ago saw the release of the Commonwealth Government's Sustainable Population Strategy. The impetus behind this strategy came from the population and overseas migration  "Big Australia" debate that occurred during early 2010. What does the strategy say about Australia's future? Not as much as it could have.Read more...