Australia

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Revision as of 17:04, 23 April 2012

Australia
Flag of Australia
Population (In Millions)	22.32
Human Development Index	2/169
Gross Domestic Product (In USD Billions - World Bank)	1,379.38
Global Peace Index	18/153
Happy Planet Index	102/143
Social Institutions and Gender Index	- /86
Environmental Performance Index	51/163
Child Mortality Rate	4.1
More information on variables

Progress Initiatives in Australia

National

Measures of Australia's Progress

Measures of Australia's Progress (MAP), an initiative of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, looks at progress for 17 headline dimensions. These are grouped into 3 categories: society; the economy; and the environment. The ABS has recently released its latest edition of Measures of Australia’s Progress (2010), as a new web-based publication. This follows the release of previous reports in 2002, 2004 and 2006. In other years the ABS provides a small publication with updates of the headline indicators within the headline dimensions (see Measures of Australia’s Progress: Summary Indicators, 2009). In 2011 the MAP team are consulting widely to determine whether MAP is measuring the aspects of national progress that matter most to Australians. This process is being called Map 2.0. This consultation will result in a refreshed conceptual framework for measuring Australia's progress.

Australian Unity Wellbeing Index

Australian Unity, in partnership with the Australian Centre on Quality of Life at Deakin University, regularly measure how satisfied Australians are with their lives and life in Australia.
It investigates satisfaction with economic, environmental and social conditions in Australia, as well as giving ongoing insights into our perceptions of individual wellbeing.

The Herald/Age Lateral Economics Index of Australia's Wellbeing

• The Herald/Age Lateral Economics Index of Australia’s Wellbeing

State of the Environment (SoE)

The intent of this report is to capture and present, in as accurate and useful a format as practicable, key information on the state of the 'environment' in terms of: its current condition; the pressures on it and the drivers of those pressures; and management initiatives in place to address environmental concerns, and the impacts of those initiatives. SoE reporting includes assessments across a wide range of biophysical and ecological elements of the environment, as well as social and cultural aspects of environmental issues. The SoE report provides a definitive account of the national State of the Environment. It captures critical information about environmental issues - issues that are nationally significant and of interest to current and future generations.

Australian National Development Index (ANDI)

The Australian National Development Index (ANDI) was launched in May 2010 to create a new framework for measuring progress in Australia. It's goals are ambitious: to consult half a million Australians; and to develop a quarterly index of national well-being. This index will be built around 12 key dimensions of progress, such as health, education, indigenous well-being, children's well-being, justice and human rights, etc. Each ‘progress dimension’ would itself have an index, and indexes will be released annually during different months. It is hoped that this will enable a continuous discussion in the media and the public about the quality of Australian life and what Australians believe are the priorities for national progress.

Measuring Progress for Children

The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) was first completed nationwide in 2009. The AEDI measures young children's development. Teachers complete a checklist for children in their first year of full-time school. The checklist measures five key areas, or domains, of early childhood development: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills (school-based), communication skills and general knowledge. These areas are closely linked to the predictors of good adult health, education and social outcomes. See also: Early Development Index.

Victoria

Growing Victoria Together

Growing Victoria Together is a ten year vision that articulates what is important to Victorians and the priorities the government has set to build a better society. It is based on discussion and consultation with the community and provides a vision for 2010 around a thriving economy, quality health and education, a healthy environment, caring communities and a vibrant democracy.

Indicators of Community Strength 

Indicators of Community Strength is an initiative of the Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development to look at the strength of the community by each local government area. The indicators examine people’s ability to get help when needed, their participation in a range of community activities, and community attitudes around life in their local area.

The Victorian Community Indicators Project

The Victorian Community Indicators Project is a joint intiative between VicHealth and the McCaughey Centre to present on the well-being of Victorians using an integrated set of community well-being indicators.

South Australia

South Australia's Strategic Plan Progress Report

An initiative of South Australia's Strategic Plan Audit Committee, Australia. The plan reflects South Australians' collective ambition for the state, in six objective areas: 1. Growing Prosperity 2. Improving Wellbeing 3. Attaining Sustainability 4. Fostering Creativity and Innovation 5. Building Communities 6. Expanding Opportunity The Plan was updated in January 2007 and now includes 98 targets, most with a 10 year time frame for achievement.

Tasmania

Tasmania Together

Tasmania Together is a vision of the state based on the wishes of the people. It includes 12 goals and 143 benchmarks and reflects the concerns expressed by people during the two biggest community consultations ever undertaken in Tasmania. As a world-leading system of community goal setting, it is enshrined in law and used to guide decision-making in the government, business and community sectors.

Official Statistics

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

Video from ABS Brian Pink on the importance of statistics

This video was made in celebration of World Statistics Day 2010.

Happiness in Australia

This is an overview of findings on Happiness in Australia.The available findings are presented in the latest ‘Nation Report’ on Australia [1]. This report is ordered by type of happiness questions and within these types by year. This ordering is to facilitate the assessment of progress, comparison over time being most fruitful using the same questions.
The report presents means and standard deviations, both on the original scale range and transformed to a common range 0-10. The means inform about the level of happiness in the country and the standard deviations about inequality of happiness.
Links provide more detail about the precise text of the question, the full distribution of responses and technical details of the survey. The report is continuously updated.

Progress Papers and Publications on Australia

• The Pursuit of Happiness, Life Satisfaction in Australia, 26.07.2010, Rebecca Cassells, Cathy Gong and Marcia Keegan, NATSEM Pty Limited, published by AMP
• Measures of Australia's Progress- Summary Indicators, 2008, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australia.
• ‘The Role of Cultural Facilities in Community Strengthening’. Professor Mike Salvaris, Victoria University, Australia
• Measures of Australia's Progress 2006, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia   
• Measures of Australia's Progress 2004, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia
• Measuring Social Capital An Australian Framework and Indicators 2004, R . W . Edwards, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia.
• Policy advice and Treasury’s wellbeing framework, 2004, Economic Roundup Winter 2004, Australian Government, The Treasury, Australia.
• Progress and Democracy, 2003, Mike Salvaris, Victoria University, Australia. Transcript ABC Radio National, 24 November 2003
• Measures of a Knowledge-based Economy and Society, Australia, 2003, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia.
• Are we Sustaining Australia? Report against Headline Sustainability Indicators, 2002, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australia
• Backing Australia's Ability: an Innovation Plan for the Future, 2001, Department of Education, Science and Training, Australia.
• National Progress Indicators, 1999, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia.
  
• An Australian National Development Index, November 2009, Adjunct Professor Mike Slavaris, School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University, Melbourne.
  

Progress events in Australia

• Event:Clean Energy World 2011

Australie (French)

Au cours des dix dernières années, de nombreuses initiatives à l’échelle nationale, régionale, et communautaire ont été lancées. Le gouvernement, ainsi que les secteurs non-gouvernementaux et universitaires se sont tous engagés. Le Bureau australien de statistique a publié sa 4e édition de « Mesures des progrès de l’Australie » (MAP) en mai 2006, et a travaillé afin d’avancer vers une méthode « capitale » qui permettrait l’évaluation de la durabilité aussi bien que du progrès. La 2e édition de « Indicateurs sommaires 2007 » ( août 2007) fournit un sommaire national des domaines de progrès les plus importants et les présente de façon facilement compréhensible par les Australiens. La publication met l’accent sur 14 dimensions phares de progrès er leurs indicateurs titres. L’objectif de « Mesures des progrès de l’Australie » (MAP) est d’informer et d’alimenter le débat public et d’encourager les Australiens à déduire leurs propres conclusions lorsqu’ ils envisagent le progrès.