South home to haves and have-nots

SOUTHERN Tasmania has the 10 most advantaged suburbs in the state as well as four of the most disadvantaged, an Australian Bureau of Statistics socioeconomic index has found.

Census data from 2016 was used in the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage which revealed the suburbs where residents had the best access to material and social resources.

The data found Tasmania had the lowest proportion of people living in the most advantaged areas (4.9 per cent) and the highest proportion of people living in the most disadvantaged areas (37 per cent).

The 10 most advantaged suburbs were Tolmans Hill, Bonnet Hill, Battery Point, Ridgeway, Fern Tree, Howden, 1. 6. 7. 10. 4. 5. 3. 8. 9. 2. Clifton Beach, Acton Dulcot and Tinderbox.

But several of the most disadvantaged suburbs were also in the southern region with Gagebrook, Herdsmans Cove, Clarendon Vale, Bridgewater and Maydena among the top 10.

Brighton’s 16,512 residents lived in the second most disadvantaged local government area in the state after George Park, Town while Glenorchy’s 46,253 residents comprised the eighth most disadvantaged area.

Hobart, Kingborough, Clarence, Huon Valley and Sorell were among the top 10 most advantaged in the state.

Other advantaged areas were spread around the state including West Tamar, King Island, Meander Valley, Latrobe and Flinders Island.

Nationally, several suburbs on Sydney’s leafy north shore were the most advantaged including Ku-ring-gai, Mosman, Woollahra, North Sydney and Lane Cove where weekly household income averaged $2640.

Australia’s 10 most disadvantaged local government areas were all in Queensland and the NT. The most disadvantaged is the Aboriginal community of Cherbourg, 200km inland from the Sunshine Coast.