Tasmania Together celebrates its 5th birthday and everyone’s invited! All Tasmanians had a chance to have their say and now.
It’s time to again look at our 20-year plan. Community input will bring some changes to the 24 Goals and 212 Benchmarks that make up the Tasmania Together Plan.
What do you think?
- What’s been achieved in the last five years?
- What’s changed in Tasmania over the last five years?
- What’s missing from Tasmania Together?
- What’s no longer relevant?
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What happens after the review?
The Board has gathered all the information provided by the community and will decide how it should be incorporated into the Tasmania Together 20-year plan. In March it will put out a paper on what people said during the public consultation period. The updated Tasmania Together plan will be available later in 2006.
For more information on the 5 Year Review please ring the Tasmania Together Progress Board Secretariat on 6233 5958
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Tasmania Together is Turning 5
Tasmania Together celebrates its fifth birthday and everyone’s invited! That means all Tasmanians have a chance to have their say.
It’s time to have a good look at our 20-year plan. The answers will bring some changes to the 24 Goals and 212 Benchmarks that make up the Tasmania Together Plan.
The Tasmania Together Progress Board wants everyone to get involved in our five-year update to look at where Tasmania has made progress and what else we want to do.
- What do you think?
- What are the most important issues for you over the next 10 to 15 years?
- What has changed for you in Tasmania over the past five years?
- What other changes would you like to see?
- What are the most important things for Tasmania Together to report on?
Have your say by email to secretariat@tasmaniatogether.tas.gov.au and look out for the Tasmania Together Bus!
From late August to early December 2005 the Tasmania Together Progress Board will be visiting cities and towns throughout the state, listening to what Tasmanians have to say, and providing information about Tasmania Together.
Your views are important. Catch the bus and make sure your voice is heard!
Look out for more information on how you can be involved. The Board will also be working closely with its many partners, and consulting peak bodies, community groups and service clubs.
What happens after the review?
All the information will be gathered and the Board will then determine how it should be incorporated into the Tasmania Together 20-year plan. The updated Tasmania Together plan, will provide the community, business and government with a new focus to work together for a better future for Tasmanians in the years ahead.
For more information on the Five-Year Review please ring the Tasmania Together Review Hotline on 1300 306 302, contact the Progress Board Secretariat on 6233 5958.
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The First 5 Years
Tasmania Together is turning five and its time for all Tasmanians to have their say as part of the first 5 Year Review.
The last five years have seen significant change in Tasmania. This is a report on what the people of Tasmania have achieved in that time and some of the challenges that still face us.
It outlines some of the questions which need to be addressed in the 5 Year Review.
Download the Public Information Package.
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Why Review Tasmania Together
Tasmania Together is:
- a long-term social, environmental and economic plan for the State’s development for a period of 20 years; and
- an overarching framework for planning, budgeting and policy priorities for the government and non-government sectors.
Tasmania Together is about change. It’s what thousands of people and organisations from all around the State said they wanted for Tasmania’s future. It provides a framework for monitoring change over time and assists planning and decision-making across government, business and the community by focussing on progress in identified areas of importance to the Tasmanian community.
Because it is about change, Tasmania Together must be responsive to changes in community priorities and use the best progress measures available.
To keep it current, the Tasmania Together Progress Board reviews Tasmania Together every five years, by consulting with the Tasmanian public and then seeking Parliamentary approval for appropriate amendments to the Tasmania Together document.
The Progress Board has identified some key areas to be addressed in the review including achievements and changes in the last 5 years and what’s missing from Tasmania Together. During extensive community consultations to take place from September to December 2005, the Board will ask:
- What are the important issues for you over the next 10 to 15 years?
- What’s changed for you in Tasmania over the past 5 years?
- What other changes would you like to see?
- What are the most important things for Tasmania Together to report on?
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What Has Been Achieved
Much has changed in Tasmania since the initial community consultations were undertaken by the Community Leaders’ Group in 2000 to find out, at the beginning of the new century, what Tasmanians wanted for their future. The Tasmanian Community has achieved a great deal.
There is clear evidence of a stronger economy in the series of Tasmania Together Progress Reports, as well as in ABS, State Government and private sector reports and analysis.
Tasmania has experienced record levels of employment, with corresponding decreases in the unemployment rate and in the number of persons classified as long-term unemployed.
Investment – both public and private – has increased during this period and there have been significant infrastructure developments in the energy sector – including the natural gas project, Basslink and wind energy. Easier and cheaper access for tourists followed the investment in the 3 ferries and the introduction of budget airlines to Tasmania, increasing visitor levels and expenditure to all time highs.
Tasmania can claim to be the safest Australian state with substantial reductions in a number of criminal offences, increased support for victims of crime and programs to reduce re-offending. Not surprisingly, public perceptions of safety have steadily improved over the last 5 years.
The implementation of Learning Together initiatives, including the introduction of the Essential Learnings curriculum has re-focused Tasmania’s education, training and information environments to improve learning opportunities and outcomes.
Reconciliation with indigenous Tasmanians has been enhanced by the return of Aboriginal land on Cape Barren and Clarke Island, as well as the establishment of the Aboriginal Heritage Office and progress in the development of new Aboriginal heritage legislation.
The introduction of the Relationships Act 2003 gives legal recognition to same sex relationships as well as to people who give unpaid domestic support and personal care to another person.
Decreasing rates of smoking in Tasmania have been boosted by legislative changes to reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and to restrict advertising of tobacco products, whilst smoking cessation services have been promoted.
Other changes in basic health issues over the last few years include increased promotion of physical activity and improved nutrition in schools, local communities and workplaces. In terms of rural health services, a number of new or re-developed community and health centres have opened and the number of paramedics in rural areas has increased.
More recently, the Government has devoted additional funding to the State’s public hospitals to enhance facilities (including a new emergency department at the Royal Hobart Hospital), accommodation, equipment and workforce numbers.
Cooperation between levels of government in Tasmania has been significantly enhanced by the development of a range of bilateral, regional and State Partnership Agreements between the State and Local Government. This cooperative approach is focused on better service outcomes for Tasmanian communities. The State Government has attempted to literally get closer to the people by holding regular regional Cabinet forums in various cities and towns around the State.
On the high profile issue of logging, early targets in relation to clear felling in the State’s old growth forests were not met – but more recent developments, culminating in a new agreement between the State and Federal governments, specifically target a significant reduction in the logging of old growth forests to be achieved by 2010.
Positive trends are evident in measures of air quality – particularly in the previously problematic environs of Launceston – as well as reductions in the use of 1080 poison.
Management of formal reserves in the State has been enhanced in the last 5 years, with over 180,000 hectares in 27 reserves made subject to approved management plans. Management plans seek to maintain reserve values such as natural diversity, including populations of threatened species and communities, and geodiversity.
Tasmania’s ‘clean-green’ brand value has been recognised and protected through the extension of the moratorium on the commercial release of genetically modified organisms in primary industries.
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What Has Changed Since 2000
The boom in Tasmania’s real estate prices during the last 5 years has been both positive and negative, putting pressure on housing affordability for low income earners.
The Affordable Housing Strategy is a good example of stakeholders from all sectors of the community working together to address emerging problems. The Strategy provides for the delivery of increased housing opportunities for Tasmanians unable to live affordably in private housing - through partnerships between government, community and private providers.
Issues associated with an ageing population are receiving greater attention as demographic projections predict Tasmania will soon have the oldest population in Australia. A steady increase in demand for a range of health and human services is expected. Promotion of healthier ageing which has the potential to reduce the health and care costs of older people has been progressed under the Government’s Positive Ageing Plan 2000-2005, and consultations are being held towards the development of a new Positive Ageing Plan for 2006-2011.
Domestic violence has emerged as a significant problem during this period and has prompted the new Safe at Home program - which focuses on early intervention, support and protection of the victims of family violence, including children.
Changes in relation to environmental issues in the last 5 years are harder to quantify due to the often gradual nature of change in environment factors and the correspondingly longer periods between measurement of such change.
Community interest has elevated the status of a number of planning and resource management issues. Examples include development proposals for coastal areas, urban housing and the Hobart waterfront, as well as management issues relating to water usage, access costs and quality.
Biosecurity issues given a profile during this period include food related threats such as salmon imports and New Zealand apples, as well as threats posed by introduced species such as the fox. The potential threat of disease to our native fauna is highlighted by the devastating impact of the facial tumours affecting the Tasmanian Devil population – the cause of which remains unknown.
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Working Together
The Tasmania Together Progress Board has established an extensive Partners program with community and business organisations to better target and promote activities undertaken by organisations such as TasCOSS, Colony 47, the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) and Aurora Energy – which contribute to the achievement of Tasmania Together goals and benchmarks.
Tasmania Together is an integral part of the State Government’s strategic policy framework and provides a basis for setting Government policy priorities, and the allocation of resources. In the last five years, the Government has:
- Identified priority clusters of benchmarks for coordinated action across Agencies;
- Restructured the Budget process to better align initiatives with policy priorities and evaluate proposals against Tasmania Together benchmarks; and
- Refocused its internal and public reporting on initiatives and activities which contribute to the achievement of Tasmania Together benchmarks;
Tasmania Together also provides an overarching framework for State Government partnerships with industry, local government and the community and the Government is actively seeking to build and participate in Coalitions of Interest with various sectors of the community to pursue Tasmania Together goals and benchmarks.
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2005 Targets Achieved
Tasmania Together identifies the extent of change that Tasmanians want to see for their State over a 20 year period.
The Five Year Review offers an opportunity for all Tasmanians to have a say in what change has occurred and what changes they want to see between now and 2020.
Tasmania Together does not monitor performance in all areas – other State, Commonwealth and private sector publications do this – but where performance is monitored, that performance is benchmarked against targets that have been set at 5-yearly intervals, the first five year targets being for this year, 2005.
A full list of benchmarks which have achieved their 2005 targets is attached, however in summary, notable performances against targets have been achieved in the following areas:
Community/Social
Tasmanians have helped make our communities more cohesive, inclusive and better able to cope with change by: increasing their voluntary involvement in community and service activities (3.1.1); staging and supporting more multicultural events to celebrate music, dance and cultural presentations (9.2.1); and increasing household internet access to connect Tasmanians with each other and the global community (7.2.2).
More Tasmanians are participating in education and training (4.1.1), closing the gap to the national average in this area. This increase in learning and training is also reflected in the achievement of targets for participation rates for VET, tertiary education and university (18.1.1).
Premature mortality (5.1.2), a key measure of health outcomes, has improved by over 10% since 1999, whilst access to health services in rural and regional areas has been improved through an increase in the number of rural ambulance paramedics (7.1.2).
Economy
The headline labour force participation indicator (16.1.1) has seen Tasmania move closer to the national average – achieving the 2005 target. Tasmania’s workforce has also benefited from an increase in secure employment (16.1.3) - measured in terms of leave entitlements - and steady improvements in the median wage level (16.1.4).
The State’s population level and economy have also benefited from doubling our share of migrants (16.3.3).
The Tasmanian economy has seen significant increases in both public and private investment (19.3.2) in the last 5 years, and future investment prospects look bright with the State’s credit rating (19.1.2) having been revised positively by both international rating agencies during this period. In addition, our rankings against the other states on key costs to business (19.1.1) have improved; and the target for a greater proportion of Tasmanian businesses being connected to the internet (19.4.1) has been achieved.
Boosted by the investment in the Spirit of Tasmania ferries, the establishment of the budget airlines, and lifestyle promotion - visitor numbers (20.2.2) and tourism expenditure (20.2.1) have increased to record levels, exceeding the targets set for 2005.
Culture and Heritage
The value of Tasmania’s cultural heritage is being increasingly recognised through the achievement of targets in relation to heritage site attendances (21.4.1); management of heritage sites (21.6.5); the conservation of significant cultural heritage items (21.6.2); and the number of major visitor sites containing Aboriginal cultural interpretation (10.1.3).
Environment
In the area of biodiversity, Tasmania has maintained the target of having no shortfall in the RFA targeted forest communities on public land (22.1.2). Our ‘clean-green’ status is being protected by the maintenance of the moratorium on genetically modified crops (23.3.1); and by the achievement of a 60% reduction in the use of 1080 poison (24.5.1).
People in our major cities enjoy a healthier living environment as a result of reductions in air pollution (24.3.1) and water pollution (24.3.1) which have exceeded the targets set for 2005.
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2005 Targets Not Met
For some benchmarks data is collected infrequently (eg every 3 or 5 years) and it is not possible to say whether or not targets will be met. Others have clearly failed to meet their 2005 targets.
Reports have highlighted the growing problems in relation to domestic violence (2.1.6) and child abuse or neglect (2.2.2), with data for both showing consistent movement away from the targets.
Similar trends are evident for the benchmark relating to the proportion of postgraduate research students coming to Tasmania from interstate and overseas (4.2.1). Also of concern in relation to education benchmarks are school retention rates from Year 10 to Year 12 (18.1.2) where a reversal of initial progress has seen the latest result fall well short of the 2005 target.
In the health area, the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes (5.1.3) shows no sign of abating, whilst hospital admissions due to injuries and poisonings (2.1.1) were greater in 2003 than they were in the baseline year of 1998.
Despite a return to overall population growth for the State in the last few years, benchmarks aiming to maintain rural and regional population levels (7.3.1) have not been met; and neither have targets to match the national average for the proportion of 15-39 year olds (16.3.2). Efforts to increase the representation of young people on Government boards and committees (15.1.3) have had little impact to date.
Whilst there has been some improvement since 2001, targeted improvements in pay equity for women (9.3.2) have not been achieved.
The targeted proportion of Aboriginal cultural collections currently held overseas being repatriated to the Aboriginal community in Tasmania (10.4.1) has not been met, with only 2 such collections returned since 2001.
Modest increases in participation in local government elections (13.1.1) since 1999 have not been enough to achieve the target for 2005.
In terms of environmental benchmarks, targets have not been met in relation to
quarantine confiscations (20.1.1); management of protected land (23.1.2); clear felling in high conservation value old-growth forests (24.2.1a); and recreational water quality (24.3.3).
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What Might Be Missing
In conducting this review, the Progress Board is primarily concerned to ensure that Tasmania Together remains a relevant and vibrant framework for monitoring change and progress towards the long term objectives of the Tasmanian people.
So whilst the Board is interested in what has changed generally, the more crucial question is what issues have become important in the context of Tasmania’s long term future, and whether these issues are sufficiently covered in Tasmania Together. That is why we want to know what other changes people think Tasmania Together needs to take account of.
Since the original Tasmania Together document was released in 2001, some of the things people have raised with the Progress Board include:
- housing affordability/availability
- issues associated with an ageing population (especially aged care)
- infrastructure – especially transport, but also energy and tourism
- sport and recreation
- families, including parenting and very young children
- spirituality
More recently and as a consequence of the Board’s focus on what has changed in Tasmania in the last five years, other issues have surfaced which warrant consideration in the course of the Review because they have become more important or are likely to become more important in the next five to ten year period.
To this end, the Progress Board is keen to get broader consensus on ‘new’ issues that should be included in Tasmania Together. In addition to those above, these might include:
- skills and labour shortages
- education & training beyond Year 10
- crime rate measurement
- early child development
- information literacy and civic participation
- superannuation education
- issues facing people with disabilities
- levels of downstream processing of natural resources
- noise pollution in urban areas
- marine environment issues
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Reporting on Tasmania Together
Some Tasmanians have told the Board that Tasmania Together is too complicated.
As part of the 5 Year Review, the Board wants to look at how it can report on the benchmarks to meet the interests of all Tasmanians.
The aim of this paper, Reporting on Tasmania Together, is to start discussion on the future use of headline indicators and improved visual representations of benchmark information and data trends in Tasmania Together.
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What People Have Said
Tasmania Together is made up of 212 benchmarks under 24 goals, which are presented under 5 goal groups.
Recently commissioned focus group research highlighted the need for a simpler, easy-access document and associated reporting. The focus group research also identified the following issues of importance for the future:
- Environmental sustainability
- Standard of living
- Health services
- Jobs and skills training
- Education
- Maintaining safety
The Five Year Review aims to produce a more useful and usable Tasmania Together document and associated reports on progress.
Headline indicators are one way to achieve this objective, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has been working with the Progress Board on this.
The Board also wants to improve the visual presentation of benchmark information and data trends in future reporting.
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Headline Indicators
The Progress Board has been impressed with the use of headline indicators in two recent national processes which, like Tasmania Together, seek to monitor and report regularly on progress measures in their respective jurisdictions.
The ABS publication: Measures of Australia’s Progress 2004 (MAP2) is the second iteration of an evolving headline indicator reporting framework for Australia. Its key influence is the UK equivalent: Quality of Life Counts (QLC) - also referred to as the UK Sustainable Development Indicators – which is also built on a headline indicator framework and reported in a range of formats including the very compact and concise Quality of Life Barometer annual report cards.
The MAP2 publication describes headline indicators as being “distinguished from others by their capacity to encapsulate major features of change in the given aspect of Australian life” (p. 9). MAP2 also sets out the following ‘criteria’ for the selection of headline indicators.
A good headline indicator should:
- be relevant to the particular dimension of progress;
- where possible, focus on outcomes for the dimension of progress (rather than on say, the inputs or processes used to produce outcomes);
- show a ‘good’ direction of movement (signalling progress) and ‘bad’ direction (signalling regress) – at least when the indicator is considered alone, with all other dimensions of progress kept equal;
- be supported by timely data of good quality;
- be available as a time series;
- be sensitive to changes in the underlying phenomena captured by the dimension of progress;
- be summary in nature;
- preferably be capable of disaggregation by, say, geography or population group;
- be intelligible and easily interpreted by the general reader. (p. 181)
Challenges in Adopting Headline Indicators in Tasmania Together
Tasmania Together is different. It consciously identifies change and focuses on areas where change has been identified as desirable. Unlike QLC and MAP, Tasmania Together does not attempt to cover everything. There is much about Tasmania that is not included in Tasmania Together because people were content with the status quo in a number of areas.
Tasmania Together’s emphasis on change and measuring change into the future, means that traditional areas of measurement may not ‘do the job’ that Tasmania Together requires. This means that solid, reliable indicators that might be ideal as headline indicators for the sort of focus contained in QLC or MAP may not be the best for – or may not even be included in – Tasmania Together.
Applying Headline Indicators to Tasmania Together
The Tasmania Together Progress Board is keen to make Tasmania Together more accessible.
Headline Indicators allow for a snapshot of progress using only a handful of indicators. Ideally, these indicators should each represent an issue area – such as “health” or “education & training” or “work”.
These issue areas are more specific (and therefore useful/accessible) than both the 5 generic goal groups and the current 24 high level goals. The issue areas should be defined from the community consultation input (via N6 report).
Examples
The following section provides a hypothetical example of how headline indicators could be applied in the Tasmania Together context.
Issue Area: Health
Headline Indicator: premature mortality
Supplementary Indicators: regular exercise; diabetes; nutrition; smoking
Issue Area: Crime & Safety
Headline Indicator: people who feel safe in public places
Supplementary Indicators: people who feel safe at home; people who feel safe on public transport; crime victimisation rate; family violence
Issue Area: Work
Headline Indicator: participation in the workforce
Supplementary Indicators: under-employment; leave entitlements; median wage
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How Data is Presented
The volume of data now shown in reporting against the benchmarks is becoming unwieldy in the tabular style which has been used to date. Both the amount of data and its presentation in columns does not allow a clear presentation of trends or the direction progress has taken over time.
Use of Graphs and Charts in Future Reporting
The Progress Board intends to incorporate a range of graphical presentations of data trends when reporting benchmark performance in the future. Examples of forms which may be used are bar charts, line graphs and pie charts – depending on the nature of the indicator being reported.
Symbols to Convey Directional Change
Tasmania Together reporting to date has utilised ‘up, down and sideways’ arrows to indicate the direction of change (if any) in the latest reporting period. Whilst always intended to be more of an ‘at a glance’ summary, the Progress Board considers that even with improved visual presentations of the data and associated trends in the form of graphs and charts, there is still a place for the use of symbols to convey directional change.
Following the Five Year Review, it is anticipated that progress reporting against the benchmarks will emphasise overall progress towards the (2010) targets, rather than the movement only in the last reporting period.
An alternative symbol for signalling change which could be incorporated in future Tasmania Together progress reporting is the use of traffic lights. In particular, the amber light could be used to draw attention to emerging problems – allowing the progress reports to act as a warning, for example when a previously positive trends is reversed in the latest reporting period.
Other types of symbols considered less effective in this context are:
- ticks and crosses – limited to only 2 symbols
- thumbs-up, thumbs-down – limited to 2 symbols
- happy and sad faces – problem with an in-between ‘face’
Statistical Significance
Until now, the Progress Board has reported any numeric change in data as either an improvement (up-arrow) or a degradation (down-arrow) from the previous year’s data. In fact a number of such changes are statistically insignificant – in that minor numeric changes in data derived from surveys are more likely to reflect sample imprecision (usually attributable to relatively small populations being sampled) than any significant change in the phenomena being measured.
To improve quality and accuracy when reporting this type of data in the future, the Progress Board is working with the ABS to develop significance criteria which can be applied in future reports on benchmark progress.
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Competition Winners
Winners of the Tasmania Together Progress Board “Have your say for Tasmania’s Future” Competition
Aurora Prize $500 of electrical goods and $500 in cash.
- Wendy Cresswell – Penguin
Telstra Mobile Phones
- Russell Parker - Summerhill
- Richard Cantrell - Burnie
- Katrina Dodge - Bridgewater
- Ninka Koc - Franklin
Thank you to all Tasmanians who entered the competition, and thank you to the Tasmania Together Partners, Aurora and Telstra for their generous prizes.
