A high-level address component is defined as a broad geographical area that is capable of containing more than one specific physical location. Some examples of a broad geographical area are:

• Suburb, town or locality
• Postcode
• Australian or international
• State, Territory, local government area, electorate, statistical local area
• Postal delivery point identifier
• Countries, provinces, etc. other than in Australia

These components of a complete address do not form part of the Address line.
When addressing an Australian location, following are the standard address data elements that may be concatenated in the Address line:

• Building/complex sub-unit type
• Building/complex sub-unit number
• Building/property name
• Floor/level number
• Floor/level type
• House/property number
• Lot/section number
• Street name
• Street type code
• Street suffix code

One complete identification/description of a location/site of an address can comprise one or more than one instance of address line. Instances of address lines are commonly identified in electronic information systems as Address-line 1, Address-line 2, etc. The format of data collection is less important than consistent use of conventions in the recording of address data. Hence, address may be collected in an unstructured manner but should ideally be stored in a structured format. Where Address line is collected as a stand-alone item, software may be used to parse the Address line details to separate the sub-components. Multiple Address lines may be recorded as required.

The following concatenation rules should be observed when collecting address lines addressing an Australian location.

• Building/complex sub-unit type is to be collected in conjunction with Building/complex sub-unit number and vice versa.
• Floor/level type is to be collected in conjunction with Floor/level number and vice versa.
• Street name is to be used in conjunction with Street type code and Street suffix code.
• Street type code is to be used in conjunction with Street name and Street suffix code.
• Street suffix code is to be used in conjunction with Street name and Street type code.
• House/property number is to be used in conjunction with Street name.

Health Data Standards Committee

AS5017 Health Care Client Identification, 2002, Sydney: Standards Australia.