{"id":8190,"date":"2020-01-11T21:54:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/?p=8190"},"modified":"2021-01-19T21:56:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T21:56:18","slug":"is-life-getting-better-measures-of-australias-progress-2013-progress-in-australian-regions-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/is-life-getting-better-measures-of-australias-progress-2013-progress-in-australian-regions-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Is life getting better? Measures of Australia\u2019s Progress (2013) &#038; Progress in Australian Regions (2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Is life in Australia getting better? There are a range of indicators that help to answer this question. My personal interest is in how innovation, entrepreneurs, and startups contribute towards the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two approaches I came across recently include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abs.gov.au\/AUSSTATS\/abs@.nsf\/mf\/1370.0\">Measures of Australia\u2019s Progress Report 2013<\/a>&nbsp;by the Australian Bureau of Statistics; and<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitre.gov.au\/sites\/default\/files\/00_REGIONS_YEARBOOK.pdf\">Progress in Australian Regions Yearbook 2017<\/a>&nbsp;by the Department of Infrastructure and regional Development \u2013 Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Measures of Australia\u2019s Progress (MAP)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abs.gov.au\/AUSSTATS\/abs@.nsf\/mf\/1370.0\">ABS MAP report<\/a>&nbsp;set out to answer one question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u2018Is life in Australia getting better?\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>To arrive at an answer, the ABS reviewed current approaches globally and across Australia. Below is an overview from their report in 2013. A list of such reports that is maintained on an ongoing basis would be valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-17-800x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-404\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-18-1024x400.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-405\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Through the review above and engagement with both everyday Australians and experts, the MAP report developed 26 themes across four domains of Society, Economy, Environment, and Governance. They then published an assessment on the extent that the indicators were: 1) showing progress; 2) showing regress, 3) had minimal change, or 4) there was a data gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-16-1024x892.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-403\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abs.gov.au\/ausstats\/abs@.nsf\/Lookup\/by%20Subject\/1370.0~2013~Main%20Features~Homepage~1\">report\u2019s website<\/a>&nbsp;has an interactive tool that makes it easy to understand the details. Keep in mind that the report was released in 2013 using data that is now over a decade old. There are many conversations that can be started with the data, such as: the low environmental sustainability and lack of data in the current climate awareness context; and the lack of data relating to governance and moderate levels of trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In regards to economic resilience, the indicators at the time reflected an overall Australian society and economic position that was positive and growing. However, the strong and growing economy was not resilient based on an assessment of multifactor productivity declining 2.1% over the decade where:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<em>output (i.e. goods and services) of the Australian market sector has been outpaced by growth in its inputs (i.e. capital and labour). An economy with a lower level of productivity is likely to be less capable at withstanding and recovering from economic downturns.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Current state of Multifactor Growth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I am by no means an economist, but out of curiosity I looked at where our productivity is now. Multi factor growth is interesting as an economic reference point resilience. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abs.gov.au\/ausstats\/abs@.nsf\/mf\/5260.0.55.002\">latest ABS report&nbsp;<\/a>shows that multi factor growth is on the decline and trending down at a current rate of 0.4%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-19-1024x677.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-406\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So how does this relate to innovation activity? Australia\u2019s productivity commissioner Michael Brennan said in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.afr.com\/policy\/economy\/business-blasted-for-rent-seeking-instead-of-risk-taking-20191211-p53ixs\">a December 2019 article in the Australian Financial Review<\/a>&nbsp;that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cDestructive rent seeking and a lack of entrepreneurship by business has stalled productivity and wage growth and that trying to fix the issue won\u2019t be helped by reform nostalgia or economic pessimism.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIt is likely that the bigger challenge for the Australian economy today is one of dynamism: the capacity to generate new ideas, products, business models, production techniques and diffuse them quickly through the economy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Innovation and entrepreneurship are important for overall economic resilience. How much more of a factor is this for areas outside of high population capital cities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A regional perspective with the Progress in Australian Regions Yearbook 2017<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Australia is a regional nation and a perspective on \u201cthe Australian economy\u201d can be misleading. With a focus at a regional level, the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development released the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitre.gov.au\/sites\/default\/files\/00_REGIONS_YEARBOOK.pdf\">Progress in Australian Regions Yearbook 2017<\/a>&nbsp;that expands on the ABS MAP report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Report indicators<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The report utilises existing indicators from MAP:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-20-1024x837.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-409\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>and expands with additional factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-21-1024x359.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-410\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How the report sees a \u201cregion\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The term \u201cregional\u201d can be thrown around, but how it is defined is important based on the availability and meaning of the data. The report applied these indicators based on four ways of looking at a \u201cregion\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>First<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;was a consideration of \u201c<strong>Remoteness Class<\/strong>\u201d based on five categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Major cities of Australia;<\/li><li>Inner regional Australia;<\/li><li>Outer regional Australia;<\/li><li>Remote Australia; and<\/li><li>Very remote Australia.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-22-1024x950.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-411\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Second&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>was a list of \u201c<strong>Major Urban Areas<\/strong>\u201d identified as \u201cthe large urban cores and surrounding built\u2011up urban areas with a population of more than 85,000 residents.\u201d This includes the seven capital cities and 13 \u2018significant urban areas\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-23-1024x1019.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-412\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Third&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>is \u201c<strong>Capital City and Balance of State<\/strong>\u201c. This is where data is not available at the detailed regional area so reporting appears as an example as:\u201dGreater Brisbane\u201d and \u201cThe rest of Queensland\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Finally,&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong>there is reference to \u201cSub-State Regions\u201d which are described as \u2018a minimum population of 100,000, with some exceptions for sparsely populated remote areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Application of indicators in regions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The indicators are then applied in the regions using the different view of a region depending on data availability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are interested in entrepreneurship, so we will use as an example one of the economic indicators of&nbsp;<strong>new business entry rates<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First is the review based on remoteness class:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-24-1024x484.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-413\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Second is based on major urban area:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-25-1024x892.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-414\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally is a detailed breakdown by sub-state region:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-26-684x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-415\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-27-678x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-416\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/renando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/image-28-783x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-417\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A broad brush can be applied to say that more businesses are created in higher populated areas. There are inherent factors such as regional areas experiencing higher structural change, lower population growth, less diverse industries, and lower diversity and therefor service redundancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what we are looking for are variances to the trends, exemplars from which we can learn, and opportunities to embed new structures for greater resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Closing thoughts \u2013 Getting better vs. Better than them<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The focus of the two reports is to understand \u201cAre we getting better\u201d. The 2017 Yearbook stated that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Rather than make comparisons between regions, the information on progress in this Yearbook is intended to be used to look at how individual regions are doing over time, and if these changes are in line with the broader national trend.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>When thinking about the regional data, I wonder if there can be a tendency to change the question from \u201c<em>Are we getting better?<\/em>\u201d to instead \u201c<em>Are we better than them?<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Community transformation is complex and takes time. I am keen to continue exploring how we can learn from those who are doing it well and apply those lessons for the good of all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is life in Australia getting better? There are a range of indicators that help to answer this question. My personal interest is in how innovation,&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/is-life-getting-better-measures-of-australias-progress-2013-progress-in-australian-regions-2017\/\" class=\"bwp-excerpt-more-link\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[193],"tags":[],"ecosystem_role":[232,235],"class_list":["post-8190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-innovation-ecosystems","ecosystem_role-mapping-and-measurement","ecosystem_role-social-impact","bwp-masonry-item","bwp-col-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8192,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190\/revisions\/8192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8190"},{"taxonomy":"ecosystem_role","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ecosystem_role?post=8190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}