Which LGA has the longest standing boundary?

Changes to local government boundaries (LGAs) are a thorn in the side to any researcher interested in time series analysis.  Depending on the scale of the change, adjustments need to be made to the data in order to make it comparable.  On a recent day trip to the historic town of Queenscliff, I was reminded that the Borough of Queenscliffe (the spelling is different) was the only LGA in Victoria to emerge from the reforms of the 1990s unscathed.  It made me wonder - is this the longest standing stable LGA boundary in Australia, or is there another contender?  I go on a quest to find out.

Building approval trends in cities - behind the headline number

The number of building approvals is generally viewed as an indicator of the state of the economy, and hence is one of the more important data sets released by the ABS.  Approvals are linked to construction activity, jobs and the flow-on effects to the rest of the economy.  Recently I had a conversation with someone who expressed concern at the decline in building approvals, suggesting it was a precursor to an economic recession.  Now I'm not an economist by any stretch of the imagination, but surely it's more than just the number?

Population trends in peri-urban towns

While much of the popular discourse around population growth focuses on rapid growth in our major cities, very often trends in other areas are overlooked.  Peri-urban is a term generally used to describe the area surrounding a major urban area, such as the interface between town and rural.  However a peri-urban area is diverse and can include towns, semi-rural and rural lots.  This growth looks at population change in peri-urban towns in the area around Melbourne over the period 2006-16.

Steady population growth in Australia

Australian Demographic Statistics, a quarterly publication prepared by the ABS, was released just before Xmas.  This provides estimates of Australia's population, and that of the states and territories, up to June 2019.  What are the highlights of this latest release?