Review of 2021 Census Topics

We are suggesting including Journey to Education information, including the name, address or postcode of the institution individuals attend, and the method of travel to get there.
At the moment the main data source available to understand how people move around our towns and cities is through Journey to Work data. Journey to Work only provides information for a portion of the trips on our networks. Additional information is required in order to plan cities that can have an efficient transport network in the future.
Journey to Education information would provide additional data to complement the Journey to Work data on the most regular and frequent travel, although there remains other reasons for travel. Those attending educational institutions are doing so on a frequent basis and make up a significant portion of all trips, so this addition would allow an understanding of how these people move around our cities.

At the moment the main data source available to understand how people move around our towns and cities is through Journey to Work data.

This data is relied upon by local and state governments, along with private organisations to measure the use of the transport network, identify deficiencies and the need for investment, and to evaluate the effectiveness of infrastructure and services delivered. Much of analysis done to develop infrastructure policy, planning and prioritisation is based upon Journey to Work, as it is the only data representing the full population.

As commuting to work represents only a portion of total travel, this can lead to policy and plans which lack the evidence to address other reasons for travel, and the scale, type and location of infrastructure and services needed for current and future populations.

As Education is a significant focus of planning and capital and recurrent expenditure by government, the addition of Journey to Education would help significantly to redress this imbalance.

It is envisaged that this information would include two additional questions. One would be the name, address or postcode of the Educational Institution and the other would be the mode(s) in how they got there on Census day.

It is envisaged that this information would include two additional questions. There is a need to identify the institution attended, or its location. This may be either by name, address or postcode. There is also a need to identify the mode(s) used for the on Census day.

These questions will be easy for respondents to answer.

The mode question would be the same pro-forma as with the Journey to Work data (Q45). Respondents will already be familiar with the style and structure of that question so it will be simple to answer.

The topic is likely to be perceived in the same way as the Journey to Work question. As we are suggesting the option to identify the institution by postcode, those not wishing to identify a particular establishment need only provide this. The means and purpose of identifying the destination are similar as to those for Journey to Work, but there may be a need or preference to treat the location of education providers differently.

As discussed in criteria 3, the topic should only need to be two additional questions, that are already asked for different topics throughout the Census. The processing and coding should be similar to the existing questions and no additional instruction or explanation would be required.

Journey to Work data is used to identify changes in travel behaviour, work location, trip patterns and travel demands over time. This enables understanding of changes in travel and the use of transport infrastructure and services in relation to historic changes in Australian cities, as the basis for forecasts of future need for infrastructure and services to evaluate use and effectiveness of infrastructure investments made between census years.

The same motivation, purpose and benefits would apply to extending this to include Journey to Education, providing a more complete picture of changes in travel demand, and the need for and effectiveness of investments in transport infrastructure and services.

Some education providers collect data to understand how their students access their Educational Institution. Using the Census to collect this information would enable greater efficiency and consistency between institutions and jurisdictions across Australia.

N/A