Durack responds to wellbeing survey

There is still a lot of room for improvement in happiness and wellbeing in the Federal electorate of Durack, according to North West residents who took the latest Australian Unity Well-being Index survey.

Durack ranked 63rd on the survey published by Australian Unity and Deakin University this month, which examined life satisfaction across all 150 Federal seats ahead of the July 2 election.

The findings were drawn from more than 24,000 responses to the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index over the past 10 years, which evaluated life satisfaction across a range of areas, including standard of living, health, achievement, personal relationships, safety, community connection and future security.

A personal score out of 100 was recorded, with the South Australian seat of Mayo (79.49) the nation’s happiest electorate and Blaxland (71.23) in Sydney’s west taking the wellbeing wooden spoon.

Deakin University senior research fellow Delyse Hutchinson said the survey demonstrated a clear “wellbeing divide” between suburban and rural Australia, with rural electorates dominating the top of the wellbeing league table and big city suburbs bringing up the rear.

The seats of Murray (79.15) and Mallee (79.05) in Victoria’s north, Gilmore (78.92) on the NSW south coast, Maranoa (78.82) and Kennedy (78.41) in north Queensland and the big rural seat of O’Connor (78.33) in southern WA were all in the top 10 for personal wellbeing.

The western Sydney seats of Chifley (71.56), McMahon (71.86) and Werriwa (72.00) joined Blaxland (71.22) in the bottom 10, which also included the Melbourne suburban electorate of Holt and Cowan in WA (71.48).

Dr Hutchinson noted the latest study had also taken a deeper look at 10 marginal seats that would help determine the July 2 federal poll, including a new survey of 2000 people taken in March to gauge their personal wellbeing.

Among these seats, the electorate of Parramatta recorded the lowest personal wellbeing score (73.86), while the regional Victorian seat of Bendigo (77.31) had the highest.

Overall, the marginal seats, whether Coalition-held or Labor-held, had significantly lower average wellbeing than the general population, though Dr Hutchinson said it was impossible to say that personal wellbeing was influenced by living in a marginal seat.

“Nevertheless, this information may have some interest to marginal seat candidates as they campaign through to July 2,” he said.

The full Australian Unity Wellbeing Index report can be viewed at www.acqol.com.au/reports/auwbi.php .