Social Wellbeing and the Environment in the Inner West Inner West Council

Research objectives Provide baseline and comparative data Questions on For strategic policy discussions Future service scoping Wellbeing (what’s important, choice and control, social connectedness, isolation and support, community and political participation social inclusion) Local government (what’s important, knowledge, service delivery and governance)

Method

Methods Interviews and discussions with Executive to scope Review other surveys for comparison questions and data Multi-modal survey (predominantly online) N=1,000 Possible follow up focus groups to interrogate results

The Respondents 55% 45% 17% 4% 8%

Social Wellbeing

What’s important in life The ‘Lifestyle Community + Transient Population’ effect: family time not as important, but leisure time is.

What’s important about the Inner West

Level of choice and control in life Inner West residents feel slightly more in control of their life than the average Australian

Participation in the community 50% involved in a social group 33% involved in a community support group 15% involved in a civic or political group

Political participation and engagement The most common two actions do not see Inner West residents ‘go out of their way’

Community connectedness Generally more trusting of fellow community members than the average Australian, but also less certain of this (38% vs. 17%)

Access to support Between a quarter and a third of Inner West residents would not be able to access support when they need it. Comparatively, about 5% of Australians are not able to access support in times of crisis. 55% Of Inner West residents say they have provided this support to someone in the last four weeks

Who people would turn to for help The ‘Transient Population’ effect: non-family members are a stronger source of support for Inner West residents when compared to the average Australia Most Australians would turn to Family (80%) Friend (65%) Work colleague or neighbour (20%) Professionals or charity (10%) Local council or government services (5%)

Who is part of this community? Inner West residents less inclusive than your average Australian

Local Government

Who is best able to make decisions about the Inner West? Inner West residents are more certain which level of government knows best about their area. But it isn’t automatically local government.

Residents of Stanmore less likely to know which ward they live in Knowledge of Council Residents of Stanmore less likely to know which ward they live in Verbatim indicate amalgamations are a factor, alongside history, and the ‘Global Sydney’ effect

What’s important about what Council does? (1/2) What makes the Inner West tick? Cycleways Planning Child care Aged care Arts and culture Promoting the area

What’s important about what Council does? (2/2)

Service delivery and governance – 1/2

Service delivery and governance – 2/2

Some implications and thoughts The Inner West being is often regarded one of the most progressive and socially and politically engaged communities in Australia There are elevated levels of concern / agreement etc. about issues of social wellbeing – but not to the level one might expect This is perhaps a function of the very high levels of diversity in the enlarged Inner West council area It may very well be a ‘microcosm’ of Australia