Funding Deserts

SEIFA IRSD (Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas): The Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census). Each postcode is assigned a decile from 1 (most disadvantaged) to 10 (least disadvantaged). LGA-level scores are averaged across constituent postcodes. A low SEIFA decile means the area has higher proportions of people with low incomes, lower educational attainment, and higher unemployment.

Remoteness classification: Based on the ABS Remoteness Areas framework (ARIA+ 2021), which classifies geography into five categories: Major Cities, Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote, and Very Remote. Each category reflects distance from service centres and population density.

Entity coverage: The count of CivicGraph-indexed entities (charities, service providers, community organisations) operating within each LGA. A low entity count signals sparse service infrastructure — fewer organisations competing for or delivering services.

Desert score formula: A composite index combining four dimensions:

• SEIFA IRSD decile (inverted, scaled 0–100) — lower decile = higher disadvantage = higher score
• Remoteness category (0–40) — Very Remote = 40, Remote = 30, Outer Regional = 20, Inner Regional = 10, Major Cities = 0
• Entity coverage gap (0–30) — fewer entities per LGA = higher score
• Funding gap (0–20) — less tracked funding = higher score

Maximum theoretical score: 190. A score above 100 indicates a severely underserved area where disadvantage, remoteness, and lack of service infrastructure compound.

Data sources: AusTender procurement contracts, state justice funding programs, political donation records (AEC), ACNC charity registry, philanthropic foundation giving, and ATO tax transparency data. All cross-referenced by ABN and mapped to postcodes and LGAs via the CivicGraph entity graph.

Limitations: The desert score measures tracked funding and entity presence within CivicGraph's indexed datasets. It does not capture all government programs (e.g., direct state service delivery, Medicare, Centrelink payments). LGAs with zero entities may have organisations not yet indexed. The score is most useful as a relative comparison between LGAs, not as an absolute measure of service access.