Better spatial units for Australian rural research: The urgent need for revision of the Australian standard geographical classification
Peter Smailes
PP: 061 - 084
Abstract
The spatial framework for socioeconomic data in rural Australia. An earlier contribution to Rural Society by Thomas Dax drew attention to the importance of international comparability of statistical data in analysing trends in Western (OECD) rural areas (Dax 1996).
Within the European Community, strenuous efforts are currently being made to align the statistical geography of neighbouring countries to a common type of building block or Basic Territorial Unit, and to integrate spatial data into a common GIS system through initiatives such as the SABE (Seamless Administrative Boundaries of Europe) database (European Commission 1996a-c).
Several European countries have already integrated their registers of households, dwellings and/or real estate parcels with their statistical geography - in some cases geocoded and accessible by GIS - to the extent that small area data can be produced on an ongoing basis almost without the need for traditional censuses (Danmarks Statistik 1995; Statistisk Sentralbyrå 1995).
This raises the question of how the spatial basis for rural statistical data in Australia matches up to world's best practice, and to the direct needs of rural researchers. The recent Report of a team of consultants engaged by the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) to examine the need for review of the nation's statistical geography (Hugo et al 1997) recommended major changes.
The present paper, initially presented at the 1997 Institute of Australian Geographers conference in Hobart, argues the case for urgent reform, specifically in rural areas of Australia.
Keywords
rural research, statistical localities, spatial units, geography, European, agricultural census, geographical classification, SABE, ASGC, CCD, SLA
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