Click on the map for information about that region.
(for the whole of the Pilbara select the map on the left)

 

What is the Spotlight? 

 

Spotlight on the Pilbara is the first in a series of community indicator frameworks being developed in partnership between the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the nine Western Australian Regional Development Commissions, and the WA Department of Regional Development and Lands. The aim of the Spotlight Project is to bring together selected statistical information about each region, from a wide variety of sources, to provide a practical framework for use in regional strategic management and policy development. It is planned that Spotlights will be created for each Development Commission region, with data available at local government area (LGA) level.

The pilot Spotlight on the Pilbara was developed in collaboration between the ABS and the Pilbara Development Commission (PDC) after wide consultation with people living, working and delivering services in the Pilbara region. The ABS and PDC would like to acknowledge the strong support of all the people and organisations who provided input to the identification of indicators selected for inclusion in the framework. In addition, they would also like to thank the many data custodians for their willing cooperation in providing statistical information for the creation of the indicators.

The release of these community indicators in a web-based format allows for their ongoing update and modification over time, as issues evolve and change in the regions.

As noted above, this project is a pilot and is regarded as a critical first step in creating a community indicator framework for the entire State. It is anticipated that all Spotlights will contain a core suite of shared indicators, together with region-specific indicators added to reflect the critical issues identified for each region. Work on the core suite of shared indicators and on Spotlights for the Peel and Mid West regions is underway and should be completed shortly, after which additional Spotlights will be developed region by region.

 

 

Indicators

 

Following consultation with community, business and service providers in the region, an initial list of over 150 indicators was developed. Indicators were partitioned into 3 broad themes: Social, Economic & Environment.

 

All up, 45 different issues were identified across the Pilbara, where measures of change were established. Where possible these issues have been reported upon at the local government level as well as the Pilbara regional level. 

The final indicator framework can be viewed here.

 

Analytical commentary for all indicators and appropriate data in the form of graphs, tables and comments can be found when navigating around this site. Further information such as the source of the data, the raw data sets and the frequency the data is updated is also available on each indicator page under the <more data> link.

 

During the data collection stage, it was found that data for several indicators were unavailable for a range of reasons including confidentiality, the sensitive nature of the data and that data simply did not exist. Many of these indicators have been identified for possible collection through future community and business surveys, filling the information gaps and reporting on community attitudes to issues.