Strategies for Alleviating Locational Disadvantage in Geelong

Across Greater Geelong, there is significant disparity between more advantaged and less advantaged suburbs. The 2016 Socio-Economic Index for Areas (SEIFA) Index (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016) defines three Geelong suburbs as being amongst the “most disadvantaged” in Victoria. Norlane is ranked as the state’s third most disadvantaged suburb, Whittington is eighteenth, and Corio is twenty-sixth. Despite the many strengths of these diverse communities, this locational disadvantage is a long-term and severe problem affecting the lives of many residents in the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG). The Vital Communities project was established in October 2019 to improve CoGG’s coordination, planning, and leadership of integrated social and economic development, and to increase social equity and prosperity for communities in Corio, Norlane, and Whittington. The project aims to enhance residents’ quality of life and neighbourhood liveability by improving community outcomes across five “Practice Domains”: Education, Employment, Housing, Liveability, and Health and Wellbeing. In this report, the HOME Research Hub at Deakin University (Deakin) provides Recommendations for strategic approaches and interventions to improve social equity in Corio, Norlane, and Whittington. These Recommendations were designed to help shape the long-term strategy of CoGG’s Vital Communities Project, and to inform ongoing strategy for recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.