ACT-prioritised Australian state/territory code AA[A]

Identifying and definitional attributes
Metadata item type:	Value Domain
METEOR identifier:	616563
Registration status:	Commonwealth Department of Health, Standard 17/12/2015
Definition:	A code set representing Australian states and territories, with the ACT prioritised to the top of the set of permissible values.

Representational attributes

Representation class:

Code

Data type:

String

Format:

AA[A]

Maximum character length:

Permissible values:

Value	Meaning
ACT	Australian Capital Territory
NSW	New South Wales
VIC	Victoria
QLD	Queensland
SA	South Australia
WA	Western Australia
TAS	Tasmania
NT	Northern Territory

Supplementary values:

UNK

Unknown

Collection and usage attributes
Guide for use:	Care should be taken when using this value domain as it presents the Australian states/territories in an order different to those most commonly used by agencies such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The state/territory order presented in this value domain is known to be used in the underlying information systems of the Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), and possibly reflects the historical data management practices of some Canberra-based Commonwealth government agencies, whereby Canberra (and by extension, the ACT) was considered to represent something like 'Central office' or 'Head office'. Agencies such as the ABS and AIHW publish data in state/territory order based on population. The ABS-preferred order (NSW, Vic., Qld, SA, WA, Tas., NT and ACT) reflects historic relative state/territory populations and has been retained by the ABS to preserve continuity of presentation and minimise the risk of error in the handling or interpreting of data. The AIHW-preferred order reflects more recent trends in the relative populations of the states/territories, i.e. as above, but with WA before SA and ACT before NT.

Collection and usage attributes

Guide for use:

Care should be taken when using this value domain as it presents the Australian states/territories in an order different to those most commonly used by agencies such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The state/territory order presented in this value domain is known to be used in the underlying information systems of the Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), and possibly reflects the historical data management practices of some Canberra-based Commonwealth government agencies, whereby Canberra (and by extension, the ACT) was considered to represent something like 'Central office' or 'Head office'.

Agencies such as the ABS and AIHW publish data in state/territory order based on population.

The ABS-preferred order (NSW, Vic., Qld, SA, WA, Tas., NT and ACT) reflects historic relative state/territory populations and has been retained by the ABS to preserve continuity of presentation and minimise the risk of error in the handling or interpreting of data.

The AIHW-preferred order reflects more recent trends in the relative populations of the states/territories, i.e. as above, but with WA before SA and ACT before NT.

Source and reference attributes
Submitting organisation:	Department of Health
Reference documents:	<P>Australian Bureau of Statistics. <A href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/1270.0.55.001">Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011</A>. ABS cat. no. 1270.0.55.001. Canberra: ABS.</P>

Relational attributes
Related metadata references:	See also Australian state/territory code N ACT Health (retired), Candidate 09/08/2018 Children and Families, Superseded 03/11/2021 Commonwealth Department of Health, Recorded 16/07/2015 Community Services (retired), Standard 03/08/2005 Early Childhood, Standard 21/05/2010 Health, Superseded 20/11/2019 Homelessness, Standard 01/05/2013 Housing assistance, Standard 03/08/2005 Indigenous, Superseded 14/07/2021 Tasmanian Health, Incomplete 23/07/2012 See also Australian state/territory code N Children and Families, Standard 03/11/2021 Health, Standard 20/11/2019 Indigenous, Standard 14/07/2021 Youth Justice, Standard 15/02/2022
Data elements implementing this value domain:	Person—Australian state/territory identifier, ACT-prioritised code AA[A] Commonwealth Department of Health, Standard 17/12/2015 Pharmacy—Australian state/territory identifier, ACT-prioritised code AA[A] Commonwealth Department of Health, Standard 17/12/2015 Prescriber—Australian state/territory identifier, ACT-prioritised code AA[A] Commonwealth Department of Health, Standard 17/12/2015

ACT-prioritised Australian state/territory code AA[A]

Identifying and definitional attributes

Representational attributes

Collection and usage attributes

Source and reference attributes

Relational attributes

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