tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post2606846658249164975..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: Regional Variation and Australia's AboriginesJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-15972229622315769262007-07-07T11:47:00.000+10:002007-07-07T11:47:00.000+10:00Good morning Neil. Good to see you up and about.Ye...Good morning Neil. Good to see you up and about.<BR/><BR/>Yes, the states are withering on the vine. I will convince you one day on new states as part of the solution!<BR/><BR/>Your point on the transient population is interesting. <BR/><BR/>There are two measures in the census, location on the night of the census, then place of usual residence. I generally use the second.<BR/><BR/>In the City of Sydney's case, you might well expect there to be more including visitors than usual residents. <BR/><BR/>Further, some longer term visitors as opposed to short term visitors might well still give their country as place of usual residence. <BR/><BR/>I tried to check this by looking at the numbers on location on the night of the census as compared to place of usual residence but was not able to do this.The data does not appear to be available. <BR/><BR/>So in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I have to conclude that Sydney's real Aboriginal population may well be higher than than the official numbers.<BR/><BR/>My thanks for getting me to think of this. I will add a PS to this post pointing to the problem. Must be fair, you know!Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-80117891296503252002007-07-07T10:10:00.000+10:002007-07-07T10:10:00.000+10:00What you say about the imbalance between regions i...What you say about the imbalance between regions is very true, though I am reluctant, as you know, to see new statism as a solution. I suspect the drift, and I am not at all happy with it, is actually towards the states withering on the vine anyway...<BR/><BR/>On Aboriginal population figures: there must be a certain fuzziness there, don't you think, though how much I am not sure. After all, the census simply tells us where they were on a given night of the week in a given year. As you well may know, the Aboriginal population of Sydney would have that night included however many people from Moree and many other parts of the country. I know that in Redfern/Waterloo there is constant coming and going, and Aboriginal people aroound the city that I have talked to from time to time have hailed form all over, including Central Australia. Just a thought.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com