Mark Twain noted most famously there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics” – a phrase describing the persuasive power of numbers, particularly the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments.
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And nearly a century after the noted American author and humorist died, his phrase resonates in increasing echoes when it comes to contemporary online and digital detail.
Take the revelations about the postcodes named as being risky when it comes to loan defaults. The Liverpool Plains region was named last week as being among those under the most financial pressure when it comes to business or personal loans.
The local council has already set out to mine just where the figures came from with a surety that the so-called NAB report had red-flagged 40 postcodes where business and personal loans were at higher risk of default because the areas have an over-reliance on single industries for growth, have high unemployment, or property prices have run too hard.
They were on a credit watchlist and said to be most susceptible to stress if interest rates or unemployment rose.
But Liverpool Plains mayor Andrew Hope disputes the integrity of the figures.
And, quite reasonably, he is concerned about the potential impact such speculation or conjecture can have, particularly on the perception of those outside to setting up business there and moving in.
He is not the only one recently to dispute the results of some of these so-called desktop studies that have projected development rates, happiness, liveability and lifestyle attitudes to any number of Australian towns and localities.
You can also delve into some of those statistics and find all manner of bizarre conclusions extrapolated by desktop jockeys for various companies pushing everything from toothpaste and hair gel to houses, hotels and holidays.
While you can examine the latest Liverpool Plains risky-business finance figures, mayor Andrew Hope suggests you also need to take account of the fact employment levels have remained fairly constant, housing prices range from the top end to worker and small-town lower end, but that’s no strange thing to any bush town.
And while farming retains a big slice of the country and contributes the best part of the pie to the local economy, he doesn’t believe mining, and the peripatetic nature of that working life and lifestyle has so far had much bearing there, although it might have some spinoff on property prices and real estate values in the future, given any expansion in mining nearby.
Statistically speaking, of course.
