Survey gets it wrong
Toowoomba misses out on top spot
TOOWOOMBA has missed out on being named one of the most liveable regions in Australia, being knocked from its rightful place by areas in Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia.
A new study from polling firm IPSOS revealed Toowoomba was the seventh most liveable region in the country, despite having high-quality education opportunities, highquality healthcare, good job prospects and a prosperous economy.
The Warnambool region in Victoria was ranked the most liveable regional area in the country, followed by the southeast area of South Australia, the Murray region of New South Wales, the Sunshine Coast, the west and north-west regions of Tasmania and Ballarat.
The most and least liveable areas are drawn from the regional Australia liveability index – a measure of regional Australia’s liveability between 0 and 100. The index is created by multiplying a number of attributes’ importance by how well Australians rate its performance in their local area.
The attributes include healthcare, education opportunities, social cohesion, connectivity, lack of congestion, sport opportunities and number of museums, galleries and festivals. Toowoomba ranked well above average on all of these attributes.
Overall, Toowoomba had a rating of 62.4, well above the regional Australia average of 59.3. Despite this, Toowoomba residents reported feeling less safe than other areas, had less access to natural environments than other areas and did not have a strong sense of community, which ultimately brought down the region’s overall ranking.
In a similar study, inner city Perth was named as the most liveable metropolitan area.