1. 2012 A Spatial Odyssey: Common geographies and place-based stories
ABS Stats Show | 13 October 2011
Dr Kate Liley
Evidence and Modelling (EMU)
Queensland Department of Communities

2. A User’s perspective The spiral view from big picture to on the ground
the Queensland Department of Communities
Evidence based management
The use of spatial data in human service planning
Data opportunities and challenges
The future’s looking bright…

3. Government Context
In March 2009, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh made significant changes to the Queensland Government to provide better coordination and services to Queenslanders.
The new streamlined government is the most significant reform in almost two decades and involves the restructure of 23 departments into 13 departments.
The Queensland Department of Communities service areas now span:
Housing and Homelessness services
Child Safety, Youth and Families, Community Participation
Disability and Community Care Services & Multicultural Affairs Queensland
Sport and Recreation Services
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships
Our Strategic Framework and Strategic Plan translate to prioritising activity that aligns with the department’s vision of Fair, cohesive and vibrant Queensland communities and our purpose in providing integrated community services that strengthen Queensland.

4. Policy and Service Priorities
Contributing to the Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland Strong, Healthy, Green, Smart and Fair ambitions by leading the Target Delivery Plan on Volunteering and contributing to reducing Chronic Disease, Waiting Lists, and Jobless Households targets;
Implementing National Agreement and Partnership commitments effectively, including those on Affordable Housing, Disability, Mental Health and Home and Community Care;
Closing the Gap by working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders and others, supporting reconciliation and driving reform in services, infrastructure and planning in communities and making mainstream services more responsive;
Supporting Queensland’s children and families at risk of entering the child protection system through earlier intervention and better access to a range of services;
Driving policy and service reform to strengthen Queensland’s community service system and working with the NGO sector to implement the Queensland Compact;
Supporting Queenslanders impacted by natural disasters and other crises; and
Delivering a substantial capital works program to support improved client services.
From the Queensland Department of Communities Strategic Framework at

5. QLD Context: Disadvantage Profile 1991-2011
In 2011
People who are socially included (approx 84% of population or 3.8 million people who don’t and probably won’t ever need our services).
Marginal socially included (approx 10% of population or 450,000 people ‘at risk’. Target for prevention and early intervention services).
Socially excluded (approx 6% of population or 270,000 people at high priority need. Target for intensive support and continuing care services).
Most Queenslanders never become clients of the department as they are supported by mutually reinforcing protective factors i.e. happy childhood, good education, stable employment, good incomes, etc.
The department’s client profile consists of two groups who can be understood through a social inclusion/social exclusion perspective.
The marginally included - people usually coping OK but sudden impact of a risk factor - e.g. illness, job loss - could lead to social exclusion, where we are seeking to minimise the probability that single incidents of major short-term disadvantage/disability to an individual or family leads to a decline into long-term social exclusion.
The socially excluded - chronic, complex, multiple disadvantage, where we are seeking to minimise the impact of multiple disadvantage on individuals and families and to slow or halt the decline of community wellbeing.

6. QLD Context: Disadvantage Profile 1991-2011
Between QLD’s population increased by more than 50%.
As the population has grown and aged over this period the number of socially excluded has grown and the caseload become more complex.
Nonetheless, Queensland has ‘held the line’ in the sense that the proportion of socially excluded and marginally included is virtually unchanged since 2001.
There is indirect evidence that this profile of disadvantage has been in place since 1991.
The department’s client base is drawn largely from individuals and families with long-term, multiple, chronic and complex disadvantages and/or disabilities, often within the same community.
Much of the department’s client base is common to the client base of other human service departments – Queensland Health, Queensland Police, Justice and Attorney-General, Community Safety (Corrections).
Health, education, public safety and social welfare already account for more than $7 out of every $10 of Queensland government expenditure.
There is a good news story here that we don’t tell well enough or often enough.

7. Clustering of Disadvantage in QLD
Disadvantage is not distributed randomly or uniformly across QLD;
It clusters in particular areas;
It concentrates among particular groups;
These clusters and concentrations are very stable; and
The same groups and places have been the source of most of the departments clients for over 20 years.
Individuals, families and communities may be ‘at risk’ of social exclusion if they face a combination of problems – poor health, physical or intellectual disability, poor employment security and opportunity, racial and other forms of discrimination, poor social and/or employment skills, low incomes, poor housing, exposure to crime, family breakdown and limited social capital. Social exclusion is self-sustaining if these problems become linked and mutually reinforcing.
There is now a conclusive research which demonstrates that populations experiencing high levels of disadvantage are not uniformly or randomly distributed across the State.
Instead they are concentrated in a small number of locations. These locations most often occur in ‘clusters’.
Existing Department of Communities’ service infrastructure and expenditure is largely situated in or very near these social exclusion ‘cluster’ areas.
We can be reasonably sure that the proportion of population in QLD experiencing high level disadvantage – about 6% - has not changed for at least 25 years. Over that period disadvantage has had the same core characteristics and concentrated in the same small number of places. However, this is not a bad news story. Queensland’s population has almost doubled over this period. Just to hold the line without bankrupting the state is a significant achievement by Queensland’s government and community organisations as the number of vulnerable and disadvantaged grew faster than population and the costs of dealing with disadvantage, disability and disease have risen faster than inflation. 7

8. Where does Evidence and Modelling Unit (EMU) fit in?

9. Key functions of the Evidence and Modelling Unit (EMU)
Deliver sound evidence, data, business modelling and a consistent process that informs policy development, program design and service delivery and assist in resource allocation decisions; and
Establish, coordinate and maintain consistent procedures around land
use planning, research, evaluation and review and needs based planning.
This activity includes:
sourcing relevant internal and external data and information;
providing strategic research coordination, guidance and quality assurance;
conducting qualitative and quantitative analysis including complex mathematical and economic modelling; and
sharing and mobilising knowledge and resources towards continuous improvement.
These functions are described as Evidence Based Management

10. What is Evidence Based Management (EBM)?
Evidence Based Management is a means for the
Queensland Department of Communities
to match human services to priority community needs.
This means that planning decisions and funding allocation are based on evidence of need so that resources will be allocated on an effective and efficient basis.

11. Key Steps in Evidence Based Management
STEP 1: CONSTANT UPDATE OF COMSIS, DEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH, EVIDENCE GATHERING AND ANALYSIS
STEP 2a: NEEDS IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS (DNR)
Where are we now in terms of this population/issue?
STEP 2b: REGIONAL VALIDATION OF NEEDS ANALYSIS
What is the regional experience?
STEP 3: SERVICE SYSTEM ANALYSIS
Includes Service System Analysis (Mapping of need against service locations, service capacity, catchments, service continuum and community capacity)
STEP 5: IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING AND REVIEW
But where do the spatial elements come in?
STEP 4: SYNTHESIS OF THE DATA (QUANT AND QUAL) TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF OPTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT
(Towards a systematic approach to maximising client benefit)

12. Disadvantage-need-risk ranking (DNR)
An ordinal and indicative index calculated for each statistical local area (SLA) in Queensland.
The DNR rank is an output of internal analyses is a composite of:
Disadvantage: the Socio-Economic Index for Areas (SEIFA) Disadvantage;
Sentinel Indicators of Need such as births to mothers aged 15–19 years, and/or child protection notifications in the case of identifying vulnerable children and families; and
Risk is based on the proportion of the target population within the general population.
Localities with a lower DNR rank are identified as having a higher need for support services than localities with higher DNR ranks. However, the ranks do not represent an absolute comparison of need (i.e., a locality with a lower DNR rank than another locality is not necessarily more ‘needy’).
This ranking provides a first indication of need within relevant populations that can be checked against the local knowledge of regional service staff.
The sector has access to the DNR ranks through COMSIS as a means of accessing internal analyses based on small area protected data.

13. COMSIS
COMSIS is the Community Services Information System and is availably publicly at
is built and maintained by the Office of Economic and Statistical Research (OESR – a portfolio office of Queensland Treasury) for the Department of Communities;
is a key tool in establishing a core set of common standards and information across Queensland for identifying disadvantage need and risk;
ABS data (needs focus) presented at SLA, LGA and DoC region level and includes specific administrative data from other agencies;
COMSIS delivers regional profiles and access to automatically updated data from over 200 datasets for localities and population groups;
is a key part of Evidence Based Management; and
is available to the sector.
(see Queensland Compact at
COMSIS is the Communities Statistical Information System
COMSIS is built and maintained by OESR for the department of Communities.
COMSIS is a key tool in establishing a core set of common standards and information across Queensland for identifying disadvantage need and risk.
COMSIS delivers 10 Regional Profiles, 1 Statewide Profile and access to automatically updated data from over 200 datasets for localities and population groups.
COMSIS is a key part of the needs based planning and resource allocation framework.
COMSIS is not a de facto data warehouse but the Department of Communities Interface with larger data sets such as QSIRS and the ABS. In this way it is not a discerete system but a planning tool for manipulating selected data sets to the Departments prioritisation of need.

14. Evidence Based Management
EBM II elements of recent SES Forum attended by Ministers Reeves and Struthers, DPC and Treasury:
Policies and programs must be evidence based and outcomes focused
Emphasis on quantitative analysis and reporting including cost/unit output and service effectiveness (service supply matched to client demand and generates measurable client benefits)
Emphasis on statistical and economic modeling of options including return on investment
Key drivers are Census 2011, General Social Survey, Labour Force Survey, Australian Statistical Geography Standard, Queensland Regionalisation Strategy Actions. 14

15. 15

16. A ‘Mosaic’ approach
but how do we make sense of the evidence?
A Mosaic approach is the fusion/fission of art and science (or qualitative and quantitative) using many small elements to make a picture that tells a story about an at risk population or specific issue…but how do we make sense of the evidence?

17. ‘I refer the Minister to Column YZ, Row 386
‘I refer the Minister to Column YZ, Row the figure speaks for itself!’

18. Spatially enabling government (SEG)
The term spatial enablement of government (SEG) has appeared relatively recently and mainly in Australia although it is starting to be used elsewhere. There is no agreement yet on a definition of SEG, however, spatial practitioners and researchers generally see it as the deployment of spatial technology across government in a way that enables government to make better decisions and become more efficient. In the words of Williamson (2009) the enabling science, technology and infrastructure provided by spatial information is transforming the way governments do business.
Holling, P. (2009).Understanding spatial enablement of government. Proceedings of the Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute Biennial International Conference, Adelaide 2009, Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute, pp
I want you to park this idea for a moment because it is not enough to say ‘we have GIS, the rest is easy…’. Spatial data needs to be used in a specific way, tailored to its context of use (I did say this was a user’s perspective!)

19. The Mappers Toolbox viewing /exploring data
creating and editing data (the dataset is extended/ modified)
Storing data
conflation (integrating datasets from different sources)
transforming data (into different representations resulting in new
representation/format of the same data)
querying (resulting in a selection from the dataset)
analysing (resulting in a new dataset, with new information
obtained from the original dataset)
create maps

20. basic map of Queensland by region and
Layering of :
basic map of Queensland by region and
small area (currently SLA and SA2 level
forthcoming)
thematic layer (such as SEIFA IRSD
disadvantage or DNR rank for a
program area)
catchment area (custom boundary)
service system points
dot density of target population other
relevant services
other relevant features such as
transport networks or water 20

21. Case Study 1: Need-Demand post disaster
Question: How many potential additional clients are services likely to see post disaster in the short to medium term?
Modelled on place-based data using assumptions about severity of impact and SEIFA IRSD at CCD level
Households identified through Rapid Damage Assessment data provided by Department of Community Services

22. SEIFA IRSD at CCD Level

23. Roads

24. Services (inc. Child Safety)

25. Services (inc. Child Safety, HACC and Disability Providers)

26. Additional clients for the medium term

27. Additional clients for the short term

28. All Additional clients up to the medium term

29. All data

30. Case Study 2: Feasibility testing of cross sector catchment data
Developing catchment data to identify opportunities for integrated service provision across the North Coast Region with the Action Network Team (includes, Education Queensland, Queensland Health, Queensland Police Service, Boystown, Mission Australia, Department of Human Services)
Modelled on shared target population demand for services (at risk persons 0-5 years and persons 6-17 years)
Supporting the sector to identify the benefits of developing catchment data

31. The power of spatially enabled data
GIS methods have been used nationally and internationally to better understand the relationship between communities and services (not just health services). There is a strong argument that social catchment areas are more valuable, useful and relevant as a base geography to plan and understand services, rather than artificial administrative boundaries that do not necessarily relate to the way communities connect with each other.

32. North Coast Region

33. At Risk population

34. Catchments

35. Catchments and At Risk population

36. Catchment/At Risk population/Services

37. DNR
This type of work has huge potential in light of the Queensland Infrastructure Plan and the Queensland Regionalisation Strategy

38. Recent QLD developments
The Queensland Regionalisation Strategy is currently under public consultation and includes:
Strategic direction 4 – fostering partnerships at the local, state and national levels to promote coordination and drive local leadership; and
Common regional boundaries across government to provide greater consistency across planning, programming, reporting and service delivery
Queensland Regionalisation Strategy
The Queensland Government is working with the community to plan for the future of each of our regions, spreading the benefits of growth across the entire state. The Queensland Regionalisation Strategy is a significant step in gathering community ideas on how we can best strengthen each of our regions.
The Queensland Regionalisation Strategy sets out potential strategies for driving investment and development in our regions, to take growth pressures off South East
Queensland Infrastructure Plan
The Queensland Infrastructure Plan (QIP) will help Queensland realise the benefits of its natural assets and economic growth by outlining infrastructure priorities to meet the needs of our growing regions.
QIP supports the Queensland Regionalisation Strategy (QRS) by setting the strategic platform to guide the planning, prioritisation and sequencing of infrastructure across the state. This includes identifying infrastructure needed to support and further encourage growth across Queensland’s six major economic zones of minerals, coal, gas, agriculture, tropical expertise and tourism.
Strategic investment in infrastructure improves productivity, economic growth and standards of living. Increased population and employment, together with new ways of producing and delivering goods and services, will increase the need for all infrastructure categories over the long-term.
The QIP has been developed alongside the QRS to ensure Queensland has the infrastructure to respond to the prosperity and quality of life needs as the state’s population and economy continues to grow.
Strengthening Queensland regions
Infrastructure is not just about economic growth. It is essential to the sustainability and liveability of our regions. The QRS recognises that while a job may encourage people to move to a region, it is the community and quality of the lifestyle that makes them stay long term. This is why the QIP takes a holistic view, recognising that infrastructure is not just about roads, rail and dams. Investment in community and emergency services, housing, health and education, resilience and security are equally important in managing the growth pressures faced across many parts of Queensland and making the vision for the state’s regions a reality.

39. Recent QLD developments
Agreement between key agencies to develop the conditions for a common spatial understanding across government (DLGP, OESR, ABS, DoC). Department of Communities is feasibility testing:
Adoption of ABS ASGS SA2 as the basic geography for performance-administrative data collection and reporting;
Agreement to link data to place (geocoding);
Agreement to define broader administrative boundaries as aggregates of SA2s; and
Data sharing on a place basis.
This common understanding will form a locality based evidence base for whole-of-government policy and service development delivering red-tape reductions and savings (data measured once for multiple applications)

40. Opportunities include: Challenges include:
Queensland Regionalisation Strategy
Results from Census 2011
Standards based spatial sources and examples of better practice:
ABS, OESR, DERM, DLGP, Queensland Health
Information Queensland (
Queensland Government Information Service
Other agency data (e.g. RDA data from DCS)
Differing levels of maturity across government in the availability and use of spatial information:
Speed of access, data quality, data sharing arrangements
Closing the loop – turning data into evidence and creating audience understanding of analytical results:
Differing skillsets across government and the sector as consumers of data and GIS outputs (not what does it mean, but rather what are the options for implementation)
…but the future’s looking bright
Matching human services to need can be difficult because individuals in our client base can be highly mobile and difficult to count and keep track of.
A place based spatial approach can however, address this issue making it a workable approach for government.

41. 2012 A Spatial Odyssey: Common geographies and place-based stories
ABS Stats Show | 13 October 2011
Dr Kate Liley
Manager | Evidence and Modelling (EMU)
Queensland Department of Communities
Level 1, 61 Mary Street, PO Box 806, Qld 4001 
E: | T: | M:
Tomorrow's Queensland: strong, green, smart, healthy and fair -