The concept of remoteness is dynamic. As measured by the ARIA+ methodology it changes over time as population centres change size and road networks are improved. Because of this, each edition of Remoteness Areas will change in comparison with the previous edition. Using an objective and consistent process for classifying Remoteness Areas creates consistency between different editions of Remoteness Areas despite changes to the boundaries. This allows users to make comparisons and undertake statistical analysis on data published on Remoteness Areas over time.

Changes occur to Remoteness Areas due to one or more of the reasons listed below:

• Urban Centres and Localities can change in population. This can impact the service centre category they are allocated to in the Accessibility and Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+) that is used to calculate remoteness. This can affect the ARIA+ score allocated to these Urban Centres and potentially the surrounding areas as well.
• Urban Centres and Localities can expand in size geographically. Although this may not change the service centre category in ARIA+, it changes the ARIA+ score for the growth areas of that Urban Centre and potentially the surrounding areas as well.
• Changes to road networks can impact the distances to the various sized Urban Centres used in ARIA+. This changes the ARIA+ scores allocated to areas connected by these roads.
• Changes to Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) boundaries can impact the average ARIA+ score that is calculated for individual SA1s.

For more information on ARIA+ see https://www.adelaide.edu.au/hugo-centre/spatial data/aria/

The nature of the changes between the 2011 and 2016 Remoteness Areas can be measured by looking at the 2016 Census population in areas that have changed from one Remoteness Area category to another between 2011 and 2016. This is summarised in Table 1 below.

Table 1: 2016 Census population that has changed Remoteness Areas between 2011 and 2016

From	To	2016 Population That Has Changed
Population That Has Become Less Remote Due To Changes In Remoteness Areas
Very Remote Australia	Remote Australia	3795
Remote Australia	Outer Regional Australia	8595
Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia	57085
Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia	101194
Population That Has Become More Remote Due To Changes In Remoteness Areas
Major Cities of Australia	Inner Regional Australia	4904
Inner Regional Australia	Outer Regional Australia	4106
Outer Regional Australia	Remote Australia	1731
Remote Australia	Very Remote Australia	10524

In general, changes to remoteness primarily result in areas becoming less remote as Urban Centres increase in size and the road network is improved. Between 2011 and 2016, Major Cities have expanded out to incorporate some areas that were previously Inner Regional, with these areas containing just over 100,000 people in 2016. There have also been a number of areas where Inner Regional areas have expanded into Outer Regional, and these areas contained around 57,000 people in 2016. Changes between Outer Regional, Remote and Very Remote areas have involved much smaller populations, which reflects the sparseness of population in these areas.

Unusually, between 2011 and 2016, some parts of the Remote category have changed to be Very Remote – an area containing around 10,000 people in 2016. This is a result of declining population in Carnarvon and Kununurra resulting in changes to their category size in the ARIA+ classification. Consequently, this has reduced the remoteness score for these towns and the surrounding areas. Other Urban Centres and Localities that have changed Remoteness Area category are shown in Table 2 below.

To understand change in Remoteness Areas in more detail users can access a geographic correspondence file between Remoteness Areas from 2011 and 2016 in the downloads tab of this publication. Boundaries of the 2011 and 2016 Remoteness Areas can be compared in detail using the online interactive mapping tool, ABS Maps.

Table 2: Urban Centres and Localities that have changed Remoteness Areas between 2011 and 2016

Urban Centre and Locality Name	State/Territory	Remoteness Area 2011	Remoteness Area 2016
Very Remote Australia to Remote Australia
Bourke	New South Wales	Very Remote Australia	Remote Australia
Injune (L)	Queensland	Very Remote Australia	Remote Australia
Gunbalanya (Oenpelli)	Northern Territory	Very Remote Australia	Remote Australia
Remote Australia to Outer Regional Australila
Hopetoun (L)(Vic.)	Victoria	Remote Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Cardwell	Queensland	Remote Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Nebo (L)	Queensland	Remote Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Hideaway Bay - Dingo Beach (L)	Queensland	Remote Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Duaringa (L)	Queensland	Remote Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Leeman	Western Australia	Remote Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Green Head	Western Australia	Remote Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Outer Regional Regional to Inner Regional Australia
Uralla	New South Wales	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Mount Beauty - Tawonga South	Victoria	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Mortlake	Victoria	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Venus Bay (L)	Victoria	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Tawonga	Victoria	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Murgon	Queensland	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Cherbourg	Queensland	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Yarraman	Queensland	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Erakala	Queensland	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Farleigh	Queensland	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Mount Gambier	South Australia	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Clare	South Australia	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Saddleworth (L)	South Australia	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Latrobe	Tasmania	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Richmond (L)(Tas.)	Tasmania	Outer Regional Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Inner Regional Australia to Major Cities of Australia
Murwillumbah	New South Wales	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Wallacia	New South Wales	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Mulgoa (L)	New South Wales	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Manangle (L)	New South Wales	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Bacchus Marsh	Victoria	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Beveridge	Victoria	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Gembrook	Victoria	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Rockbank	Victoria	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Hopetoun Park (L)	Victoria	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Yarrabilba	Queensland	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Kiels Mountain (L)	Queensland	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Willunga	South Australia	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Yanchep	Western Australia	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Herne Hill (L)	Western Australia	Inner Regional Australia	Major Cities of Australia
Major Cities of Australia to Inner Regional Australia
One Tree Hill (L)	South Australia	Major Cities of Australia	Inner Regional Australia
Inner Regional Australia to Outer Regional Australia
Crescent Head (L)	New South Wales	Inner Regional Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Repton (L)	New South Wales	Inner Regional Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Port Wakefield (L)	South Australia	Inner Regional Australia	Outer Regional Australia
Outer Regional Australia to Remote Australia
Dunwich (L)	Queensland	Outer Regional Australia	Remote Australia
Glenden (L)	Queensland	Outer Regional Australia	Remote Australia
Remote Australia to Very Remote Australia
Carnarvon	Western Australia	Remote Australia	Very Remote Australia
Kununurra	Western Australia	Remote Australia	Very Remote Australia
Other Changes
Norfolk Island (L)	Other Territories	Not Included	Very Remote Australia