ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the experience of undertaking the whole-of-government project and evaluates the degree to which it succeeded in its objectives. Knowledge, information and data play a critical role in policy development. The Atlas had whole-of-government input from across the Victorian Government and aimed to provide an integrated analysis of regional issues rather than simply a compendium of information. The Regional Atlas Project emerged from within the research unit of the Victorian Department of Infrastructure in 2001. The expertise of the research unit at the time was centred on demographic analysis. An initial pilot version of the Atlas focused primarily on demographic themes such as population growth and decline. The Bracks Government, elected in 1999, had an interest in developing whole-of-government approaches and, to assist in this goal, established a State Coordination and Management Council, which comprised the heads of each of Victoria’s state government departments.
