The Challenge

Each HIPPY site has a specific site catchment area from which families can be recruited into the program, families outside the catchment are ineligible to enrol at the site. These catchments are linked to Statistical Level 3 (ABS) boundaries, which provide census level data on community demographics.
The boundaries have been established as the program has expanded, from 50 sites, with boundaries established on 2012 information, to the latest 25 sites which were established based on 2016 census and complimentary data.
There were 5 key objectives this work covered:

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  Review and confirm that the current HIPPY sites based are based in communities that experience disadvantage. The catchments must include the targeted HIPPY population groups and have a population that will continue to meet enrolment targets.
  
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  Review catchment size and boundaries, to ensure recruitment and retention performance.
  
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  Ensure First Nations focused sites are accessible to and utilised by First Nations families; and are locally positioned to be delivered by a potential Aboriginal Controlled Community Organisation (ACCO) that has cultural authority within that community.
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  Provide a range of locations within approved HIPPY Statistical Area 3s or new Statistical Areas 3 where communities are experiencing disadvantage and include targeted population groups that will benefit from the program.
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  Conduct service and community mapping of the 100 HIPPY Site locations to ensure HIPPY is a complimentary service available to the families in the community responding to both the need and interest for early childhood services.

Solution

To ensure the suitability and availability of ACCO’s in First Nations focus sites, PAG partnered with Inside Policy (https://www.insidepolicy.com.au), who specialise in social policy research, evaluation, consultation and design for indigenous initiatives.

PAG researchers constructed measures of disadvantage for the general community using SEIFA estimates from the 2021 census. These measures were constructed at SA2, SA3 and LGA level for a complete catchment overview.

In the case of indigenous disadvantage, the SEIFA calculation is dominated by the non-indigenous population characteristics. PAG researched current methods of measuring indigenous disadvantage, and using an index suggested by Biddle, N. (2009)*, combined measures from the 2021 census at the appropriate area level, and produced an index using Principal Components Analysis (PCA).

Our analysis also included information on Cultural and Language Diversity (CALD) and the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) to highlight community need for the program.

These 4 measures of disadvantage and need were considered in light of population to support the program and a survey of current program providers to present a holistic overview of the current sites, and potential new sites.

*Ranking regions-revisiting an index of relative indigenous socio-economic outcomes. Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, The, 15(3), 329-353.

Outcome

The suitability of the current sites locations was confirmed in terms of current and future program clients and the availability of locally positioned providers. The analysis of disadvantage revealed at least 77 SA3s that could, as the program expands, benefit by enlarging existing programs or incorporating new sites in currently non serviced areas. These SA3s included:

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  Six (6) existing sites that could benefit from new focused programs.
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  Eight (8) existing sites that could benefit from new non-focused programs.
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  Twenty-five (25) existing sites that could benefit from expanding their boundaries.
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  Five (5) existing sites that could benefit from expanding their boundaries and adding new non-focused programs.
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  Three (3) non-serviced SA3s that could benefit from adding new focused programs.
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  Five (5) non-serviced SA3s that could benefit from adding new focused or non- focused programs.
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  Twenty-six (26) non-serviced SA3s that could benefit from adding new non- focused programs.

Impact

The project provided a comprehensive assessment of community need for the HIPPY program, both now and into the future. The analytics produced measures of disadvantage at a general, indigenous CALD and AEDC level, and combined these into a single overview of area need. We provided detailed commentary and mapping for each of the 340 populated SA3s nationwide, along with their neighbours, of which resources may be readily shared. The outcomes and presentation of these results provided a robust, comprehensive and reproducible quantitative analysis, which was strengthened by the qualitative work which focused on ensuring First Nations focused sites are utilised by First Nations families and provided by a local ACCO. The multiple modes of result presentation allowed BSL to readily communicate these findings to the Department of Social Services.