Health and wellbeing profile
Statistics at a glance
Report fair to poor health – 17.3%
One or more long term health conditions – 37.81%
Overweight – 61.5%
Report depression / anxiety – 8.24%
Comorbidity rate – 9.2%
Daily smokers – 11.1%
Severe food insecurity – 8.0%
Rate of family violence victims – 10.3%
Report that community has a bright future – 78.4%
Report attractive natural assets in the community – 80%
Health and wellbeing status
Many factors combine to affect the health of individuals and communities with factors such as where we live, the state of our environment, genetics, income, and education levels all having impact on health and wellbeing outcomes (WHO 2024).
These factors are identified as determinants of health, and include:
- The social and economic environment
- The physical environment, and
- The person’s individual characteristics and behaviours (WHO 2024).
Factors considered include lifestyle factors, socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions, outlined in the Dahlgren and Whitehead (2021) model of health determinants.
Individual lifestyle
Lifestyle and behaviours of Moyne Shire demonstrate that a significant portion of the population, 61.5%, is overweight, with 4.6% classified as obese (REMPLAN 2024). This high prevalence of overweight individuals can lead to various health complications, including cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Additionally, 9% of the population suffers from asthma, which can be exacerbated by environmental factors and lifestyle choices (REMPLAN 2024).
11.1% of the population are daily smokers (VAHI 2023), 4.2% report vaping daily (DoH 2024b), and based on overall Australian statistics, 26.8% of adults over 18 years of age exceeded alcohol consumption guidelines in 2022. This is relevant to Moyne Shire given adults living in outer regional and remote areas are more likely to exceed alcohol consumption guidelines (30.9%) over those in major cities (25.9%) (AIHW 2017).
These statistics highlight the need for comprehensive health interventions and support systems to address both physical and mental health challenges in the community.
Sexual and reproductive health issues present in Moyne Shire include cases of chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhoea, and Hepatitis B, yet these have decreased from 299.5 per 100,000 in 2020 to 239.6 per 100,000 in 2024, indicating some progress. However, the overall infectious disease rates have alarmingly increased from 479.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 862.6 per 100,000 in 2024 (DoH 2024a). This surge underscores the urgent need for enhanced public health measures, including better access to healthcare, education on preventive practices, and robust disease surveillance and control programs to curb the spread of infectious diseases.
Mental health is also a significant issue, with 17.4% of residents rating their wellbeing as fair to poor. A notable 8.24% of the population has been diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety, yet only 17.3% of those have sought professional help for their mental health issues, below the Victorian average of 20.1%. This indicates a significant gap in accessing mental health services. Additionally, 16.9% of residents experience high to very high levels of psychological distress in their daily lives. These statistics underscore the urgent need for improved mental health support and resources to address the psychological well-being of the community.
Moyne Shire has a prevalence of multiple long-term health conditions with highest reported conditions being Arthritis, at 9.1% of population and Asthma at 9.0% of population (REMPLAN 2024).
Of these, 9% of this population reports comorbidity, experiencing more than one long-term health condition (REMPLAN 2024).
Note 2: Calculated percentages represent a proportion of the number of people in the area (including those who did not answer the long-term health conditions question).
More information on Type of long-term health condition (LTHP)
Table based on place of usual residence
When considering the impacts of physical exercise on health, 19.9% of Moyne residents reporting not doing any moderate to vigorous physical activity, 40.9% undertaking less than 150 minutes per week, and 37.9% reporting at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week (DoH 2024b).
Consumption of fruit and vegetable across the Shire is represented by 4.2% of adults who met both fruit and vegetable consumption guidelines, slightly above Victoria’s rate of 3.5% (DoH 2024b).
Social and community
Social, cultural and economic determinants of health extend beyond conventional socio-economic factors of employment, income and education, and make up the wider environmental factors impacting health. These determinants also examine how aspects of diversity, safety, community connection, and civic engagement influence the wellbeing of residents (AIHW 2016).
Broader community environmental impacts are broken into social and cultural, economic, and natural/built environments.
The social and cultural environment impacts individuals’ health and wellbeing through educational outcomes, prevalence and experience of violence and crime, and individuals’ position and experiences in relation to trust, diversity, and inclusion.
Moyne Shire is experiencing increasing reports of family violence, with 27.7% of criminal offences relating to family violence incidents in 2024, and the rate of incidents at 10.3% per 100,00 (CSA 2024a). This aspect of crime aligns with overall increase in crime rates, up 24.4% from 447 cases in 2023, to 556 in 2024 (CSA 2024b).
When asked, “How satisfied are you with how safe you feel?” 81.6% of respondents in Moyne & Corangamite Shire reported a high satisfaction rate (80 or above) with only 6.6% expressing a low level of satisfaction with their feeling of safety (UC 2024). When compared to the whole of Victoria, 12.1% expressed low satisfaction with how safe they feel, with only 68.2% expressing high satisfaction.
Community values are demonstrated through 57.5% of residents reporting that they believe multiculturalism makes life in the community better (UC 2024), and 78.4% reporting a feeling that the community has a bright future (UC 2024).
Loneliness is described as “subjective unpleasant or distressing feeling of lack of connection to other people...” (Badcock et al. 2022) and has been identified as Australia’s next public health epidemic of the 21st century (AIHW 2025). 22.6% of Moyne Shire residents expressed experiencing loneliness in 2023 (DoH 2024b) indicating the need for local government, at a community level to consider ways to address loneliness within communities.
Indicators including social network and support indicators, community participation and trust, provide an indication of social cohesion within communities. A study on community strength identified that 89.8% of Moyne residents felt able to get help from friends and family, or neighbours when needed.
Moyne Shire has a Year 12 attainment rate of 43.5% compared with 50.5% for Barwon South West region, and 59.4% for Victoria (REMPLAN 2024).
41% of residents in regional Victorian areas report volunteering regularly, compared to 35% of urban Victoria (UC 2024).
Socio-economic, cultural, environmental
Socio-economic
The Shire’s economic position, as well as individuals’ economic position has an impact on public health. Key economic conditions impacting health include increasing financial insecurity or stress, increasing housing stress, and increasing food insecurity.
With 3.17% of residents living in social housing, and 24.75% of households with four or more inhabitants, Moyne Shire’s household makeup can have an impact on its residents’ health. These statistics enable future planning for housing, for example, where 2.75% inhabitants highlighting a need for one or more extra bedrooms (REMPLAN 2024) demonstrates the need for dwelling types within broader planning considerations.
The number of people experiencing homelessness in Moyne Shire increased from 24 in 2016, to 33 in 2021 (BSWHN 2024). Of those seeking support for homelessness throughout the 2023-2024 financial year, 42% were survivors of family and domestic violence, 19% were First Nations people, and 21% were young people presenting alone.
Whilst unemployment continues to trend low, at 1.3% as of June 2024 (REMPLAN 2024), 8.0% or residents have reported experiencing sever levels of food insecurity (DoH 2024b), and 27.1% report high levels of financial distress (UC 2024).
When considering community health profile, considerations related to access to healthcare/affordability of healthcare are an important measure. In Moyne Shire 23.8% of people report having only fair or poor dental health, with 28.1% of people reporting avoiding or delaying visiting a dental profession in the last 12 months because of the cost (DoH 2024b).
When considering access to medical appointments, tests or procedures, 11.1% report having an appointment cancelled by the medical facility in the last 12 months, and 14.6% report cancelling or postponing medical appointment, test or procedure in the last 12 months (DoH 2024b). For surgery, 3.8% report having planned surgery cancelled or postponed by the hospital or doctor, and 3.5% cancelling their own planned surgery.
58% of Moyne residents do not hold any private health insurance.
When accessing general practitioners, 20.8% of Moyne residents report not going to see a GP when needed, with the main reasons report for not being able to access a GP including cost (16.5%), unavailability of appointment (46.4%), and 32% reporting “other reasons” (DoH 2024b). Over the past 12 months, 39.3% report having to wait longer than they felt acceptable for a GP appointment (DoH 2024b).
Moyne Shire’s SEIFA score (see Definitions) is 1029, ranking 451 out of 547 local government areas across Australia indicating a relatively high score, demonstrating a less level of disadvantage. The Victorian state score is 1010.
Cultural
Studies confirm that the balance of evidence confirms that racism is a significant health risk factor for both mental and physical health (Paradies et al. 2015; Pascoe & Smart Richman 2009; Schmitt et al. 2014). 12.3% of adult residents report experiencing discrimination in the last 12 months (DoH 2024b) and 2.4% reporting experiencing racism.
When considering health differences between indigenous populations compared to the balance of community data indicates greater proportion of the indigenous community suffers from asthma, mental health condition(s), diabetes, whilst less proportion of the indigenous community suffers from arthritis, or heart disease, compared to the balance of the community.
When considering indigenous youth in our community, 13.65% of the indigenous youth population are reported as being disengaged, with 5.38% of the balance of the community youth being classed as disengaged.
Natural environment
The health of the population can be linked to the state (or health) of our natural environment, including air quality, water quality, soil and food quality (AIHW 2018).
Moyne Shire covers approximately 5,478km2 and has approximately 3,859ha of open space. Of this, 407ha or 10.5% of total open space is considered as “core” within Moyne Shire’s Open Space Strategy (Moyne Shire 2020). This equates to a ratio of 19.65ha per 1000 residents.
Leading medical journal, The Lancet, states that climate change is “the biggest global health threat of the 21st century (Costello et al 2008). Climate change-related exposures such as higher temperatures, extreme weather events and worsening air quality is expected to impact on the health of the community, especially socially and economically disadvantaged populations.
Positive natural environmental impacts on health and wellbeing in the community is demonstrated by 80% of residents agreeing to the statement that there are attractive natural places in my community (UC 2024).
All industries within Moyne Shire, from agriculture and fishing through to tourism and mining are dependent upon the natural environment comprising of clean air and water, productive soils, efficient and effective waste disposal and endemic plants and animals, impacting upon the health of its residents.
A significant contributor to health within a community is water quality, and equally as important, perception of water quality, with parts of Moyne Shire requiring improvement in this area, indicated by 81% of Port Fairy residents indicating that they do not drink tap water (Capire 2020).
This is demonstrated by evidence that half of Year 4 and Year 6 children in Moyne Shire do not drink the recommended 8 glasses of water per day (Strugnell et al. 2024), and that the daily consumption of sugary beverages by adults is higher in Moyne Shire (35.6%) than the Victorian average (34.4%) (Brown et al. 2022, DoH 2024b).
Public transport availability and use of private vehicles can be a measure of active versus passive transport, considering the method of travel to work, with single driver car at 57.8%, decreasing from 2016 rate of 59.7%. However, this doesn’t translate to a shift to active transport, with use of bicycle reducing from 0.52% to 0.35%, and walking reducing from 5.39% to 4.75% (REMPLAN 2024).
When combining a range of environmental health questions including water health, soil erosion, and general environmental degradation, University of Canberra determined an overall perceived environmental health score with Moyne scoring of 4.8, where 1 was rated as poor environmental health, and 7 was rated as good environmental health (UC 2024(. This is compared to Victoria’s overall score of 4.2.