Statistics New Zealand to start the new year with a new chief Community & Social The New Zealand government has chosen senior public servant Mark Sowden to take over the post of Government Statistician from Liz MacPherson, who announced she…
ABS advises against LGBTI census questions despite calls for data Wednesday December 11, 2019 By Shannon Jenkins Community & Social The Australian Bureau of Statistics has advised the Federal government not to include questions on gender identity and sexual orientation in the 2021 census because…
Every $1 spent on the Census brings $6 to the economy, report finds Wednesday September 25, 2019 By Shannon Jenkins Economy & Industry For every $1 invested in the Census, $6 of value was generated to the Australian economy, according to consultancy firm Lateral Economics. The Australian Bureau…
The role of the Census in improving local area population estimates Monday July 22, 2019 By Gene Tunny and Nicholas Gruen and Matt Balmford Career Advice Imagine how difficult it would be for local government decisionmakers if they were unable to obtain accurate estimates of their local area populations. Lateral Economics'…
The Value of the Census when combined with other data Tuesday July 2, 2019 By Gene Tunny and Nicholas Gruen and Matt Balmford Career Advice By combining Census data with Australian government administrative data, the ABS has found more highly educated people have longer working lives and retire later. This…
Comparing the Census to alternative data or information: What is the right counterfactual? Friday June 21, 2019 By Matt Balmford; Gene Tunny; and Nicholas Gruen Career Advice To assess the value of the Census, we need to assess the additional value it generates over alternatives in its absence.
Valuing the Australian Census Monday June 17, 2019 By Nicholas Gruen Community & Social Statistical agencies worldwide have come under pressure from ministers to provide greater justification for the hundreds of millions of dollars of costs of a national…
From #censusfail to survey by mail: what's so innovative about a national postal vote? Friday March 1, 2019 By Stephen Easton Australian Capital Territory A few people scratched their heads last year after hearing the Australian Bureau of Statistics won a public sector innovation award for running the same-sex…
Census 2021 questions: internet access out, chronic health in Thursday November 15, 2018 By David Donaldson Federal The ABS wants to test out eight new topics in the next census to reflect a changing Australia.
The promise and problems of including ‘big data’ in official government statistics Monday November 12, 2018 By Fleur Johns, Caroline Compton & Wayne Wobcke Case studies Digital technologies put an abundance of data at our fingertips, but we must ensure questions of what should, and should not, be measured are answered…
Big data is here, let's handle it responsibly Tuesday June 19, 2018 By David Kalisch Editors' Picks A balance is possible between the safe and effective use of nationalised data to inform important government decisions -- without compromising sensitive information. Australian Statistician…
Efficient, easy transactions still top digital government wish list Tuesday March 27, 2018 By Julian Bajkowski Features New research reckons citizens want transactions that go through in one online hit as the core digital baseline. Agencies on Facebook? Not so much.
Sydney and Perth home to Australia's most advantaged communities, census shows Tuesday March 27, 2018 By David Donaldson News Census data shows Ku-ring-gai is Australia's most advantaged area, with small, majority-Indigenous communities in Queensland and the NT the least.
ABS boss on data integration: 'Why aren't we talking about this in the community?' Monday November 6, 2017 By Stephen Easton Features ABS chief David Kalisch is pushing for data linkage across all levels of government and the private sector, but he thinks his fellow data geeks…
Governments begin to see the risk of data sharing, now to explain the benefits Tuesday October 10, 2017 By Stephen Easton Features A new data de-identification decision-making guide has been released to help public servants and others navigate this area. But there is still more work to…
