Issue: Community wellbeing in Tumut Shire, Australia

Issue: Community wellbeing in Tumut Shire

Assessment

A fundamental requirement for most people is the need to have a secure source of income to provide a place to live for self, and for family where applicable.

Having achieved security of income earning, one looks to the needs for good quality air and water, for security in energy and water supplies, to the quality of our built and natural surroundings, and to the safety and security of the home and the areas in which we wish to move in our everyday activities.

In this regard, the signals from Tumut are encouraging for the established members of the community, but there is a challenge in finding sufficient jobs for the young members of the population.

Access to different types of facilities and clubs adds to the range of recreational, cultural and sporting opportunities available to the public.

Outdoor air quality is believed to be good for most of the time. There is a lot of wood burned in slow combustion stoves, and in other fireplaces and stoves, and sometimes temperature inversions occur. The wood smoke and this inversion combine to create winter smoke haze. Wood burning devices should be operated according to strict testing for combustion efficiency.

A heightened awareness of the value of natural, indigenous and built heritage has expanded interest in protection of the local cultural features of Tumut Shire, and added another feature to the tourism attraction of the area.

The economic base of the Shire has traditionally been in the primary production areas of forestry, agriculture, some vegetable crops, and some tourism. The VISY Mill will have both direct and indirect benefit to Tumut's economy

Tourism is now generating an increasing component of the Tumut Shire's economy.

Tourism can adversely impact on the quality of life for local communities in the Shire if not managed carefully. Increased traffic on local roads has implications for the natural environment in terms of air quality, and safety for both residents and visitors.

The requirements of State of the Environment reporting have resulted in an awareness of the need to minimise those activities which result in the use of fossil fuels, and the generation of Greenhouse gases. They have also resulted in programs to better understand the amount of waste generated, and the rights of individuals to the prevention of excess noise.

The topic of education becomes more and more significant in this technological age of changing levels of communication and information transmission skills. There is a need to provide equality of access to education at all levels, to people throughout Australia.

We could not obtain information as to how far the children had to travel to get to school, which would indicate how accessible the schooling is for children and their parents. Neither was information available on student-to-teacher ratios, or whether the schools were operating to full, or below, capacity, both of which would be an indication of whether these educational needs of the community are being adequately met.

High school graduates wishing to pursue university or other tertiary level education have to leave the Shire, unless they access the increasing number of tertiary distance learning courses, available on the Internet.

Implications

The quest for the achievement of human wellbeing can never be regarded as completed; there will always be challenges to meet with changing age distribution and interests of the community, and with progress towards sustainable development.

Many factors require ongoing consideration to maintain the quality of life and vitality of Tumut Shire.

These include:

on-going efforts to provide employment opportunities, especially for the younger age groups
provision of cultural and recreational facilities for different age groups and different ethnic groups
specifically planning for the distinctive needs of an ageing population
reducing the use of fossil fuels
addressing the challenge of waste minimisation in a holistic manner.

Background

Community wellbeing is a complex issue, because the needs of an individual may change significantly, with advancing age, and even with the introduction of new technologies.

However, if one considers a community, rather than individuals, and if the age, sex ratio and ethnic population numbers distributions within that community remain nearly constant over time, community needs as a whole may also remain 'much the same' over time

Wellbeing could well relate to the levels and types of interactions and involvements of the community members. It could also relate to a greater diversity of job opportunities for the community.

The quality of life of people in the country areas, or their wellbeing, is as much a result of the quality of the natural surroundings as of social and economic factors.

Air quality, water quality, native bird-life, other native animals and plants, access to open space or bushland for recreation, access to rivers and lakes for recreation are but a few examples of how much the natural places and systems affect us.

Social and economic factors are important too. In the country, as in the city, we have come to expect a certain standard of service provision as being integral to our wellbeing, such as education, health, housing, and many more. Society's capacity to provide adequate services to even the least privileged demonstrates that society's commitment to social and economic equity.

The wellbeing of the community provides a basis for a local community's security and the Region's growth and development. The way in which members of the community interact socially, work and transact business will have a significant impact on the nature of settlement and on the condition of the environment resulting from settlement.

Indicators used to assess this issue