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DATA ELEMENTS AND DATA ELEMENT CONCEPTS


STATE/TERRITORY


IDENTIFYING AND DEFINITIONAL ATTRIBUTES

Metadata type:

DATA ELEMENT Version: 1

Definition:

State/territory relates to the state or territory within Australia where the defendant's case is heard.

Context:

This data element provides a measure of the number and types of cases going through a particular state/territory.

RELATIONAL AND REPRESENTATIONAL ATTRIBUTES

Datatype:

Numeric

Field size:

Min: 1 Max: 1

Representational form:

Code

Representational layout:

N

Data domain:

The classification of states/territories is from the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC). States/territories are identified by unique one-digit codes within Australia as follows:

1 New South Wales
2 Victoria
3 Queensland
4 South Australia
5 Western Australia
6 Tasmania
7 Northern Territory
8 Australian Capital Territory
9 Other Territories

'Other Territories' includes Jervis Bay Territory and the external Territories of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Verification rules:

All defendants within each state/territory must be given the same code.

Collection methods:

None

Related metadata:

Is used to derive the data element:

Court Location

1. Australian Standard Geographical Classification 2004 (cat. no. 1216.0)

The ABS Australian Standard Geographical Classification appears on the ABS web site. From the ABS home page (<www.abs.gov.au>) select: Methods, Classifications, Concepts & Standards/ABS concepts, classifications and statistical standards/ 12. Classifications and work manuals/ 1216.0 Australian Standard Geographical Classification 2004.

2. Higher Criminal Courts Collection Manual

3. Magistrates' Criminal Courts Collection Manual

Source organisation:

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics

2. Australian Bureau of Statistics

3. Australian Bureau of Statistics

History:

Commenced 2005

Comments:

This coding order has been widely used in the ABS and other organisations as a standard for many years. The order was reviewed when Western Australia displaced South Australia as the fourth most populous state. Citing the Commonwealth Table of Precedence, which adopted a revised listing such that any textual material having protocol significance should list Western Australia before South Australia, some users requested the code for Western Australia be changed to four and South Australia to five. For the ASGC however, the above order was maintained to ensure historical continuity, to reduce potential errors in data handling and interpreting, and to avoid costs associated with changing existing systems.