Improving access to local data for Indigenous communities
Contributing to our strategic goal of ‘champions for open and accessible data and information’
Local communities, services and policymakers need access to accurate and locally relevant health and wellbeing data to make informed decisions. However, for many stakeholders, finding this information is difficult and often requires them to search multiple government websites and reports.
In response to these challenges, we developed the Regional Insights for Indigenous Communities (RIFIC) website, so that data about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their health and wellbeing is available in one place. The website allows users to customise their search, and use maps or a list of locations, to find regional statistics relevant to their communities or other locations of interest. These statistics can then be compared with those about other regions, states and territories, remoteness areas and national statistics. Data are presented as user-friendly maps, dashboards and interactive visualisations.
The RIFIC website aims to help communities set their priorities and inform their planning with government and service providers. The website development was guided by user testing by governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders and organisations.
Since its public release on 13 December 2021, the RIFIC website has had more than 6,000 unique users. Feedback from users and from stakeholders who participated in the user testing has been positive. Most comments highlight how great it is to have all this information in the one place. The RIFIC website content will continue to be expanded in consultation with stakeholders to include other types of data, including the 2021 Census.