RAIS—Information sources

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

Statistical Geography

The Statistical Geography portal provides a detailed explanation of the ABS’ geographic framework.

Geographic Correspondence

The ABS has released a series of correspondence tables that can be used to convert data between different geographic classifications.

Census of Population and Housing

The five yearly ABS Census of Population and Housing is a comprehensive collection of small area data. Some of the relevant data items include population; employment; education; household income; and migration.

Due to the relatively long time between collections, Census data is particularly powerful for tracking changes over medium to long time frames.

Data by Region

Data by Region provides you ease of access to statistics from the ABS and other sources on a particular geographical region. Use the tools to browse, search or explore by map to find statistics about different regions in Australia.

Data Quality Framework

The ABS Data Quality Framework provides standards to assist users in assessing and reporting on the quality of statistical information. A list of relevant resources and links can be found at the following information portal.

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Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics

Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development

The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), within the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, provides economic analysis, research and statistics on infrastructure, transport and regional development issues to inform both Australian Government policy development and wider community understanding. Publications and statistics can be accessed through the BITRE home page. Regional publications and statistics on regions can be accessed through the BITRE page.

  • The evolution of Australian towns: Drawing on census data, this BITRE report identifies the major trends in the size and distribution of Australia's towns over the twentieth century. It examines the processes of change and identifies the long term technological and economic factors driving development.

Regional Development Australia

Regional Development Australia (RDA) is a national network of 52 committees made up of local leaders who work with all levels of government, business and community groups to support the development of their regions.

This Australian Government initiative brings together all levels of government to support the development of regional Australia. It is funded by the Australian Government and by state, territory and local governments in some jurisdictions. It is administered by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

Progress in Australian Regions

The Progress in Australian Regions: Yearbook 2019 brings together information about Australia's regions from a range of different sources and presents that data in a consistent format over time. The Yearbook provides a statistical resource that can help answer the question of how our regions are progressing against economic, social, environmental and governance indicators enabling governments, private investors and the community to identify trends that are important for policy development and investment decisions.

The State of Regional Australia—2015 uses data from its companion publication Progress in Australian Regions: Yearbook 2014 to illustrate the trends and patterns of economic and social progress in regional Australia. The report includes a number of case studies to demonstrate the different aspects of this variation and how they have changed over time. The report analyses data pertaining to regional Australia and includes chapters on demographics, economics, structural change, social progress and infrastructure. The report also shows that infrastructure continues to support regional Australian economies by promoting the efficient flow of people and resources while also providing regional Australians with access to essential services such as education and health.

State of Australian Cities 2014–2015 is the fifth in a series of Australian Government publications. First launched in 2010, these reports have provided insight into the vital role that Australian cities play in the growth of our economy and have tracked the overall progress made in Australia's major centres. The 2014–2015 report now addresses cities with populations above 85,000 people and one of the key research topics for this report is how social and economic changes in Australia's major cities affect the type and quantum of future transport demand in these 20 cities.

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Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)

Agricultural and Resources Research

ABARES is a professionally independent, economic, science and statistical research unit attached to the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. ABARES produces agriculture, fisheries and forestry related research publications and statistics. Key products include:

  • the Monitor—an online tool that delivers spatial data for over 600 different regions;
  • Agricultural Commodities—a quarterly publication that provides analysis and forecasts of agricultural commodity production and prices;
  • Fishery Status Reports—an annual publication that reports on the status of Commonwealth managed fisheries; and
  • State of the Forests Report—a five-yearly assessment of the status of Australia's forest resources.

AgriFutures

Research

AgriFutures is a statutory authority established by the Government to work with industry to invest in research and development for a more profitable, sustainable and dynamic rural sector. AgriFutures has a unique mandate to undertake cross sectoral research into a range of significant national rural issues. AgriFutures" research focuses on animal industries, plant industries and rural people and related issues. AgriFutures produces a range of research publications, news updates, magazines and newsletters.

Species Profile and Threats Database

The Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT) provides information on threatened native flora and fauna species and ecological communities listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. Information includes text profiles, taxonomic information and a generalised distribution map.

SPRAT also provides links to conservation advice, policy statements and guidelines, recovery plans and other EPBC plans, and state government documents and websites. A number of web applications link directly to SPRAT, including an online mapping tool that allows users to create lists of species that occur in geographic areas.

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Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

business.gov.au

business.gov.au provides information to assist individuals in planning, starting and growing a business. The site includes a directory of government statistics and resources that are relevant to regional economic analysis.

Office of the Chief Economist

Resources and Energy, Industry and Innovation, Skills and Evaluation Research and Analysis

The Office of the Chief Economist's primary goal is to produce objective, robust and high quality economic analysis to inform policy development across resources and energy, industry and innovation, skills and evaluation.

Key products include Resources and Energy Quarterly—a publication that provides analysis and forecasts of energy and resource production and prices; and Australian Industry Report—a publication that provides an overview and analysis of the major economic factors affecting Australia's industries.

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Department of Education, Skills and Employment

Labour Market Information Portal

The Labour Market Information Portal presents a collection of up to date, small area labour market information, including employment by industry and occupation, unemployment and participation rates, and job vacancy statistics for around 1,400 Statistical Local Areas. \The estimates are updated quarterly and draw on the ABS Labour Force Survey, the Census of Population and Housing, and Centrelink administrative data to provide a more detailed regional breakdown of unemployment than would be otherwise possible.

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Austrade

Export Market Information

Austrade publishes detailed reports on key export markets, including country profiles, industry overviews and ‘industry within country’ profiles. Users can access the reports through an easy to use search engine on the Austrade site.

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Digital Transformation Agency

Data.gov.au

Data.gov.au is the central source of Australian open government data. Anyone can access the anonymised public data published by federal, state and local government agencies.

n addition to government data, you can also find publicly-funded research data and datasets from private institutions that are in the public interest. The site has over 30,000 publically available datasets and continues to grow.

National Map

NationalMap is an online map-based tool to allow easy access to spatial data from Australian government agencies.

NationalMap:

  • provides easy access to authoritative and other spatial data to government, business and the public
  • facilitates the opening of data by federal, state and local government bodies
  • provides an open framework of geospatial data services that supports commercial and community innovation

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Treasury (Commonwealth)

Budget Papers

The Commonwealth Treasury publishes a detailed economic outlook as part of the annual budget papers (Budget Paper No. 1, released in May). This includes a summary of international economic conditions, domestic conditions and trends and forecasts of key economic variables. An update is provided in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (usually released in the last quarter of the calendar year).

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Reserve Bank of Australia

Statement on Monetary Policy

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) produces a quarterly report, the Statement on Monetary Policy, which includes a detailed analysis of the Australian economy and international trends that affect trade, exchange rate movements and commodity prices.

Statistical Tables

The RBA publishes a variety of financial and economic statistics. This includes a range of macroeconomic data items that are relevant to regional economic activity, such as commodity prices, exchange rates and trade statistics.

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Parliament of Australia

The Parliamentary Library is part of the Department of Parliamentary Services and provides services to senators, members, their staff, the staff of parliamentary departments and the Governor-General.

The Parliamentary Library prepares the following publications:

  • Bills Digest
  • Research Publications
  • Monthly Statistical Bulletin
  • ParlInfo (Hansard, Bills, Committee Documents)
  • Lectures and seminars
  • Other library resources and research tools

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Additional Links

The following resources may also be of assistance:

Treasury (States)

Budget Papers

Each State Treasury produces an economic outlook as part of their annual budget papers. These include general information on the composition of the state or territory economy, a summary of the international outlook, analysis of the labour market, forecasts of population growth and forecasts of economic growth.

Regional Australia Institute

The Institute is an independent, not-for-profit organisation developing solutions to key policy issues through research and an ongoing conversation with the Australian community. The site contains regional policy briefings, research and analysis.

Australia New Zealand Regional Science Association International Inc (ANZRSAI)

ANZRSAI is part of an international association concerned with all the aspects of regional analysis and development. The site includes Association news and access to the Australasian Journal of Regional Studies (subscription required).

Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia (SEGRA)

SEGRA is an annual conference on regional issues, which aims to assist regional Australia to source and identify the techniques, skills and issues they need to address to achieve successful economic growth and development. The site includes publications, issues papers and current and past conference proceedings.

National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM)

NATSEM, a research centre within the University of Canberra, is one of Australia's leading economic and social policy research institutes, and is regarded as one of the world's foremost centres of excellence for microsimulation, economic modelling and policy evaluation. Site includes social and economic policy publications.

OECD regional statistics

OECD Regions at a Glance is the one-stop guide for understanding regional competitiveness and performance, providing comparative statistical information at the sub-national level, graphs and maps.

Public Health Information Development Unit

Spatial Health Data

The Public Health Information Development Unit, located at the Torrens University Australia, hosts an extensive collection of small area statistics related to health and wellbeing, which can be accessed through an interactive map.

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