GLOSSARY
ABS Act
Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975.
Accommodation Type
The type of supported accommodation that is provided to a client, based on length of stay and level of service, as represented by a code.
Administrative Data
Administrative data is collected as part of the day to day processes and record keeping of organisations.
Age
The critical disaggregation ‘Age’ is defined as the measure of time elapsed from date of live birth to a specific point in time (for example, the date of a particular survey or collection), measured in complete years.
Air Sheds
An air shed is a part of the atmosphere that behaves in a coherent way with respect to the dispersion of emissions. It typically forms an analytical or management unit. Also: A geographic boundary for air quality standards.
Australian Statistics Advisory Council (ASAC)
ASAC was established by the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975 to be the key advisory body to the Minister and the ABS on statistical services. It provides valuable input to the directions and priorities of the ABS work program and reports annually to Parliament. All state and territory governments are represented on ASAC.
Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)
The ASGS defines all the regions for which the ABS publishes statistics within the one framework and is used by the ABS for the collection and dissemination of geographically classified statistics from 1 July 2011. It is the current framework for understanding and interpreting the geographical context of statistics released by the ABS.
Census
A census is a study of every unit, everyone or everything, in a population.
Classifications
Classifications are used to collect and organise information into categories with other similar pieces of information.
Country of Birth
The country of birth of a person is defined as the country in which a person was born.
Data Custodian
The government body/bodies responsible for maintaining each existing dataset identified in the ESA for Australia list.
Data Gap
This refers to where a dataset, or multiple datasets, were not available for the quality assessment process.
Datasets
Datasets are the data from which statistics are generated. In the ESA for Australia list, these do not include source information that is used to produce collated datasets from which statistics are generated)
Disaggregation
A disaggregation refers to different constituent parts of the statistic it is listed under. A ‘critical disaggregation’ in the context of ESA reflects a component of the statistic which is considered an essential output of this information.
Dimension
A dimension forms part of the ESA for Australia organising framework and divides the pillars into further subjects (see figure 2 in the main body of the paper for the full list of dimensions). Dimensions are not considered mutually exclusive, and it is possible that statistics may be used to inform multiple pillars and/or multiple dimensions.
Domicility
Domicility forms the place where one maintains one’s primary residence for tax purposes.
Dwelling Structure
Dwelling structure describes the structure of private dwellings, including: separate house; semi-detached, row or terrace house, townhouse; flat, unit or apartment; caravan, cabin, houseboat; improvised home, tent, sleepers-out; house or flat attached to a shop, office, etc.
Ecosystem Region
An ecosystem region is a region of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non- living environment interacting as a functional unit.
Educational Attainment
Educational Attainment is the highest level of education achieved by a person in relation to completed education.
Educational Status
Education status describes a person’s participation status in a course of study at an educational institution including schools, higher education establishments, colleges of technical and further education, public and private colleges. Excluded are institutions whose primary role is not education, for example, hospitals.
Essential Statistical Assets
Essential statistical assets are defined as a set of official statistical assets that, due to their application and importance, should be given priority in order to provide a high quality and trusted statistical service. Recognising those statistics (and their datasets) considered to be most critical to Australia will help ensure their level of quality is maintained and enhanced over time.
Geocoding
Geocoding is the process of enriching a description of a location, most typically a postal address or place name, with geographic co-ordinates from spatial reference data such as building polygons, land parcels, street addresses, postal codes and so on. It facilitates spatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems and Enterprise Location Intelligence systems.
Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA)
The GCCSAs represent the socioeconomic extent of each of the eight state and territory capital cities. This provides a stable and relevant geographic definition for the release of socioeconomic survey data collected only within capital cities as well as other survey data requiring large population output regions. Within each state and territory, the area not defined as being part of the greater capital city is represented by a rest of state region.
Hospital Network
The boundaries for 137 Local Hospital Networks have been agreed to date across all states and territories. There are 124 geographically based networks and 13 state-wide networks which will deliver specialised hospital services across some jurisdictions.
The networks will help Australians by improving access to better coordinated health care and promoting more efficient use of resources and navigation between service providers and health services.
Boundaries were decided through consultation with the Prime Minister and state and territory Premiers and Chief Ministers, as agreed under the National Health and Hospitals Network Agreement.
Hospital Type
Hospital type is the type of hospital according to the sector (public, private, community, etc)
Household Composition
Household composition describes the type of household within a dwelling. Household composition indicates how many families are in a dwelling and their relationship status.
Household Type
Household type is the categorisation of households based on the principal source of household income, used primarily in the construction of analytical living cost indexes.
ID Number
Each statistic has a random ID number allocated to support identification and discussion of specific statistics.
Indigenous Region
Indigenous Regions (IREGs) are large geographical units loosely based on the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission boundaries. They are created by aggregating one or more Indigenous Areas (IAREs). The greater population of IREGs enables the highest level of granularity of attribute data through greater cross classification of variables compared with IAREs and Indigenous Locations (ILOCs). For the 2011 Census 57 IREGs are defined to cover the whole of geographic Australia. IREGs do not cross state/territory borders.
Indigenous Status
The definition of Indigenous status is operationalised as whether or not a person identifies as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin.
The term 'origin', when used in the context of the operational definition, is considered to relate to a person’s Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent and for some, but not all, their cultural identity
Industry
Industry refers to the category of business units carrying out similar productive activities that have been grouped together. It covers the full range of economic activities undertaken to produce both goods and services. The standard classification is the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 2006.
Institutional Sector
These are sector group units which have similar economic functions and share similar structural characteristics. An institutional unit is one that is able to:
- own or exchange goods and assets in its own right;
- make economic decisions and engage in economic activities for which it is held directly responsible and accountable at law;
- enter into contracts and incur liabilities on its own behalf; and
- compile a complete set of accounts, including a statement of financial position.
There are four types of institutional units:
- Corporations;
- Government units;
- Non-profit institutions; and
- Households.
The Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (SISCA) provides a framework for dividing the Australian economy into institutional sectors.
Justification
The justification in the ESA list is a short, concise statement that sets out how each statistic relates to the criteria.
Labour Force Status
Refers to whether a person is employed, unemployed or not in the labour force. The labour force consists of persons who contribute or are available to contribute to the production of goods and services falling within the System of National Accounts production boundary.
Lifecycle Group
Lifecycle group refers to the period of life in which the primary residents of the household find themselves.
Maturity
Maturity is the date on which the principal amount of a note, draft, acceptance bond or other debt instrument becomes due and is repaid to the investor and interest payments stop. It is also the termination or due date on which an instalment loan must be paid in full.
Medicare Local
There are 61 Medicare Local areas across Australia, which contain primary health care organisations established to coordinate primary health care delivery and identify local health care needs and service gaps. These were replaced by Primary Health Network boundaries in October 2014, however, as this was after the point of assessment Medicare Local boundaries were still included the statistic assessment
Met/Ex-Met
Met/Ex-Met is the geographical division between capital city and the rest of state.
Mode of Delivery
Mode of Delivery is the manner in which a service is delivered. This includes physical “in person” or online.
Mode of Transaction
Mode of Transaction describes the mode by which a transaction takes place, including whether it was transacted in person, or via the internet.
National Statistical Service (NSS)
The National Statistical Service is the community of government agencies, led by the ABS as Australia’s national statistical organisation, building a rich statistical picture for a better informed Australia. It aims to develop and improve a statistical system that ensures providers and users of statistics have the confidence to trust the statistics produced within it.
Occupation
An occupation is a set of jobs that require the performance of similar or identical sets of tasks. A job in any given workplace is a set of tasks designed to be performed by one individual in return for a wage or salary. The standard classification is ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations.
Pillar
The pillars form the ESA for Australia organising framework and include the following: economy, environment and society. Any pillar coloured purple in the ESA list indicates that it contains statistics that are relevant to multiple dimensions and pillars.
Quality Assessment
The quality assessment is the process whereby a quality assessment tool, based on the ABS Data Quality Framework, was used to assess the quality of a dataset on the ESA for Australia list, specifically for the purpose of ESA.
Recidivism
Recidivism is the measurement of repeated contact with the criminal justice system (e.g. Police as an offender).
Regional (NRM)
Natural Resource Management (NRM) is the long-term care and use of our soil, water and vegetation and the ecosystems they make up. This has to be done in a way that also supports the economic and social needs of the community.
Remoteness
The ASGC Remoteness Structure is one of the seven structures that compose the Australian Standard Geographic Classification (ASGC).
It is measured according to the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+), which is widely used within the Australian community and has become a recognised as a nationally consistent measure of geographic remoteness. ARIA+ is published as a 1 kilometre grid or matrix that covers the whole of Australia.
Sampling Error
Sampling error occurs solely as a result of using a sample from a population, rather than conducting a census (complete enumeration) of the population. It refers to the difference between an estimate for a population based on data from a sample and the 'true' value for that population which would result if a census were taken. Sampling errors do not occur in a census, as the census values are based on the entire population.
SA1, SA2, SA3, SA4
These correspond to the different Statistical Areal Levels, as contained within the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).
- SA1 - Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) - 54,805 regions with populations in the range 200 - 800
- SA2 - Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) - 2,214 regions with populations in the range 3,000 - 25,000
- SA3 - Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3) - 351 regions with populations in the range 30,000 - 130,000
- SA4 - Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) - 106 regions with populations in the range 100,000 - 500,000
Sex
Sex is defined as the biological distinction between male and female. Where there is an inconsistency between anatomical and chromosomal characteristics, sex is based on anatomical characteristics.
Socioeconomic status
Socioeconomic status refers to the social and economic position of a given individual, or group of individuals, within the larger society. Socioeconomic status is usually, but not always, conceived of as a relative concept and can be measured for the individual, family, household or community/area.
Statistical Assets
Statistical assets are the statistics, as well as the datasets that they are drawn from (where they exist).
Statistical standard
A statistical standard is a set of rules used to standardise the way data are collected and statistics are produced
Survey
A survey involves collecting information from every unit in the population (a census), or from a subset of units (a sample) from the population.
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