Posted 03/01/2024 by Joanne Simon-Davies
Welcome to the new year. In this month’s release: Injuries in Australia, including those caused by extreme weather and sports injuries; Rental Affordability Index report and 2022 Retirement Census.
Forthcoming releases
If you are interested in any of the forthcoming releases or datasets, please contact the Parliamentary Library to discuss in more detail.
| Statistical reports |
Release date |
| ANZ |
ANZ Job Advertisements, December 2023 |
4 Jan |
| ABS |
Retail Trade, November 2023 |
9 Jan |
| ABS |
Building Approvals, November 2023 |
9 Jan |
| ABS |
Monthly Consumer Price Index indicator, November 2023 |
10 Jan |
| ABS |
Job Vacancies, November 2023 |
10 Jan |
| ABS |
Engineering Construction Activity, September 2023 |
10 Jan |
| JSA |
Nowcast of Employment by Region and Occupation, December 2023 |
10 Jan |
| ABS |
International Trade in Goods, November 2023 |
11 Jan |
| ABS |
Monthly Household Spending Indicator, November 2023 |
12 Jan |
| ABS |
Lending Indicators, November 2023 |
12 Jan |
| ABS |
Overseas Arrivals and Departures, November 2023 |
16 Jan |
| ABS |
Building Approvals, November 2023 |
16 Jan |
| ABS |
Building Activity, September 2023 |
17 Jan |
| ABS |
Weekly Payroll Jobs, week ending 9 December 2023 |
17 Jan |
| ABS |
Labour Force, December 2023 |
18 Jan |
| ABS |
Monthly Business Turnover Indicator, November 2023 |
23 Jan |
| ABS |
Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2023 |
24 Jan |
| ABS |
Prisoners in Australia, 2023 |
25 Jan |
| ABS |
Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, December 2023 |
25 Jan |
| ABS |
Retail Trade, December 2023 |
30 Jan |
| ABS |
Consumer Price Index, December Quarter 2023 |
31 Jan |
| ABS |
Monthly Consumer Price Index indicator, December 2023 |
31 Jan |
(a) Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) Note: Release dates may be subject to change without notice.
After the latest key economic statistics? Visit the Parliamentary Library’s Key Economic and Social Indicators Dashboard (KESI).
Recent reports
Injuries in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare)
From 2012–13 to 2021–22, there were 9,119 hospitalisation records citing extreme weather-related injury in Australia.
Heatwaves are historically Australia’s most dangerous natural hazard in terms of directly attributable loss of life and create increased demand on the healthcare system. Extreme heat accounted for 7,104 injury hospitalisations and 293 deaths in the 10-year period analysed in this report. Deaths directly attributable to bushfires, rain or storms are less common, accounting for only 1 in 5 extreme weather-related deaths (when combined). However, this may be dependent on the size and scale of the events, there was a 15-fold annual increase in bushfire related deaths in 2019–20 as compared to 2018–19 (35 deaths compared to 2).
Injuries caused by contact with living things include bites, stings and envenomation from animals, insects and plants, along with unintentional person-to-person contact (e.g. during sport). In 2021–22, there were 28,500 hospitalisations and 27 deaths caused by these injuries.
Contact with non-venomous animals was the top cause (60%) of hospitalisations in this category. Of these, 56% involved dogs (942 hospitalisations).
Every four minutes, someone in Australia is hospitalised due to head injury. In 2020–21, head injuries resulted in 406,000 emergency departments (ED) presentations, 142,000 hospitalisations, and 2,400 deaths. Males made up 2 in 3 head injury ED presentations and deaths, and 55% of head injury hospitalisations.
In 2020–21, about 66,500 sports injuries led to a hospital stay in Australia. After a dip in 2019–20 related to COVID-19 lockdowns, the rate of sports injury hospitalisations rebounded in 2020–21. There were more than twice as many cases of sports injury hospitalisation for males (47,000) than for females (19,500). The most common sports injury hospitalisations in 2020–21 were fractures (53% or 35,100), followed by soft–tissue injuries (17% of cases or 11,100).
Rental Affordability Index (SGS Economics and Planning, National Shelter, Beyond Bank and Brotherhood of St Laurence)
Since 2015 the Rental Affordability Index report has tracked rental prices relative to income for society’s most vulnerable household types, including:
- Single person on JobSeeker payment
- Single pensioner
- Pensioner couple
- Single part-time worker parent on benefits
- Single full-time working parent
- Single income couple with children
- Dual income couple with children
- Student share house
- Minimum wage couple
- Hospitality worker
Rental stress is generally defined as housing costs exceeding 30% of a low-income household’s gross income (the 30/40 rule). The report draws upon data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Survey of Income and Housing. In 2019–20, 42% of all low-income households were in rental stress compared to 35% in 2008. This rises to 58% when considering only the private rental market.
2022 Retirement Census (Property Council of Australia, Price Waterhouse Coopers)
Key highlights:
- National village occupancy remained steady at 89%.
- The average two bed Independent Living Unit (ILU) price grew by 6.6% from $484,000 to $516,000 over the 18 months to December 2022. Over the same period national house prices rose by 26.2%, meaning ILUs were comparatively more affordable, with the national average ILU median price at 52% of the median house price.
- The 3 year development supply pipeline fell by more than half (to 5,100 dwellings) compared to the 2021 Retirement Census which proposed over 10,500 dwellings.
Interested in finding out what the latest statistics are telling us about the Australian economy and population? Each month the Parliamentary Library publishes a Flag Post article listing new reports on a wide variety of topics. The list includes important upcoming ABS releases and reports from other research organisations and government departments.