THE quality of life offered by the Great Lakes is among the worst in Australia, according to a new study.
Dismal poverty, unemployment and crime figures have made Great Lakes the state’s eighth-worst area in the BankWest Quality of Life Index. Of 590 Australian local government areas (LGA) listed, Great Lakes languishes at number 559.
The rankings are based on employment, crime, health, education, internet access, income, home ownership, house size, number of empty homes and volunteering.
Great Lakes’ property crime is 30 per cent above the State average.
Unemployment is nearly double the average, and incomes $10,000 below. We have just 68 per cent of 16-year-olds still at high school, and triple the NSW standard of empty houses.
BankWest senior analyst Tim Crawford stressed that the figures, derived from bureau and census data, are not in dispute. He anticipated outrage over the criteria, but said each is a relevant lifestyle yardstick.
“Areas with lots of empty houses, for example, tend to attract more crime. That takes away from quality of life,” he said.
“We used broadband internet access to measure an area’s technology usage, which is also significant.”
Great Lakes economic development manager Deb Tuckerman said the study is a misleading snapshot of local life.
“The index doesn’t take into account important factors, like our beautiful surrounds and environment. It doesn’t look at lack of traffic congestion or residents’ easy access to area services.”
Ms Tuckerman played up Great Lakes’ strong points like health, which is just above the state average, home ownership (four per cent above) and volunteering (20 per cent above).
“Our volunteers enhance the sense of community, and our health is good. Some of these factors were taken into account, but it’s not the full picture,” she said.
“The lower average income has a lot to do with our aging population. There are many people on pensions and low incomes, but that doesn’t mean our quality of life is worse than other places.”
BankWest CEO Ian Corfield said the study, which found 21 of Australia’s 25 most liveable communities are city suburbs, should dispel the romance of small coastal towns.
“Many Australians dream of living on the coast or in the country, but in reality the best quality of life is found in the suburbs, particularly in Sydney’s north, Melbourne’s east and western Perth.”
Ku-ring-gai, at Sydney’s north-west outskirts, is the nation’s top-ranked LGA.
The Great Lakes’ neighbours rate poorly – Greater Taree is number 508, Port Stephens 496 – and Ms Tuckerman conceded there are regional problems.
“All other councils on the North Coast rate lowly, and they’re obviously facing similar challenges [to Great Lakes],” she said.
“But we’re aware of these issues and we’re addressing them. Our unemployment has come down from 16 per cent in 2002 to around 10 per cent now. There aren’t many big employers here but that situation’s improving,” she said.
“We’ve also launched crime prevention initiatives to counter property crime.”
Ms Tuckerman said she is not worried about bad publicity from the study.
“It’s not a worry for us. The study doesn’t give a true indication of why people come to the area.
“Our population growth is an above-average 1.1 per cent, which shows it’s still an attractive place to live.”
How our neighbours rate:
Greater Taree 508
Port Stephens 496
Newcastle 505
Gloucester 234
Lake Macquarie 335
Who beat us:
Ku-ring-gai 1
Penrith 331
Orange 398
Bankstown 473
Port Adelaide 557
GREAT LAKES 559 (out of 590)
What do you think about the quality of life in the Great Lakes? Let us know. Where do we need to improve?
How do we excel?
Email your letter to:
editor.gladvocate@
ruralpress.com.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff