Chapter 2: Year in review: 2022-23

During 2022–23, the Minister responsible for the ABS and ASAC was the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury.

The ASAC Annual Report 2021–22 articulated the priorities for 2022–23 as:

1. Advise on the ABS work program under resource constraints.
2. Assist in clarifying ABS roles and responsibilities within an evolving data landscape.
3. Assist in building and maintaining community trust.
4. Advise on opportunities.
5. Monitor and advise on the 2026 Census program.

The Council held three meetings during 2022–23: in August 2022, December 2022, and March 2023 (see Appendix 2 for meeting agendas).

At each ASAC Meeting, the Council received reports from the Australian Statistician on relevant ABS business. During 2022–23, the Australian Statistician reported the ABS had resumed a broad range of statistical operations post the pandemic and continued to modernise its statistical business which requires planning, consultation, and effective management.

At the August meeting, the Council considered Business Dynamism. This provides insights into business vulnerability, viability and structural changes. The Council noted the benefits to understanding supply chain interdependencies, and the role of small business in driving innovation and competition. The Council also noted the benefits of statistics on Business Dynamism to understand the evolving economy, including its resilience to economic shocks and natural disasters.

The Council advocated for a standardised measure of business size, reductions in the burden on small businesses, and greater utilisation of private sector datasets.

At the March meeting, the Council noted ABS statistics have continued to provide robust fit-for-purpose measures of the economy during a period of real-world changes and shocks, including the pandemic, trade disputes, volatile prices, and supply chain disruptions. However, the Council noted the range of challenges facing the ABS, including declining survey response rates, rising costs of modern, cloud-based technologies and increasing complexities in acquiring private sector data which all affect the timely production of economic statistics.

The Council commended the ABS on the development of new indicators of economic activity: Monthly Turnover Indicator; Monthly Household Spending Indicator; Monthly Consumer Price Index Indicator and Monthly Employee Earnings Indicator. The Council advocated for the need for indicators at the State and Territory level to deliver improved insights.

The Council noted the ABS intends to replace the Retail Business Survey with the Monthly Spending Indicator as the headline short-term indicator of household consumption. The Council recommended significant engagement with users of the Retail Business Survey prior to the survey ceasing in June 2025.

The Council received regular updates on the progress of the Australian Public Service (APS) Data Professional Stream which was established to improve the data capability of the workforce by sourcing, growing and mobilising data expertise across the APS. Dr Gruen was appointed as the inaugural Head of the Data Profession in September 2020.

At the August meeting, the Council noted the ABS continues to be affected by the scarcity of skills across the data, digital and technology landscape. Strong demand for data and digital skills from across the public service, state and territory governments and the private sector is contributing to higher staff attrition rates in some parts of the ABS and lower numbers of skilled applicants, both constraints on the ABS’ ability to deliver its ambitious work program.

At the March meeting, the Council noted the current state of data sharing between the Commonwealth and States and Territories. The Council considered the opportunities, current challenges, potential solutions, and the long-term goals for data sharing between the Commonwealth and States and Territories. While progress had been made, the Council agreed there is some way to go to realise the full data sharing vision and to fully enable the effective use of data.

The Council noted that, in July 2021, National Cabinet signed an Intergovernmental Agreement on Data Sharing, which commits all jurisdictions to share data by default where it is safe, lawful and ethical to do so. The Council noted the growing range of projects that are safely sharing Commonwealth and state data.

Council Members considered the design and operations of the Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022 Scheme, as well as the incentives and risks public officials face when making decisions on data sharing and access. The Council supported the scheme as a systematic approach to safely sharing data and enabling more value to be realised.

At the August meeting, the Council noted ABS' work on privacy and social licence – building trust with private sector providers and expanding privacy management activities. The Council noted the ABS undertakes formal privacy impact assessments when it plans to change its handling of personal information.

The Council considered the potential and challenges of acquiring and using private sector data for statistical purposes. While the Council agreed with ABS’ strategy for greater use of private sector data, the Council noted the incompleteness of banking data in covering the population, competition from private sector companies (i.e. data houses) and the costs and risks of acquiring these large data sets.

At the December meeting, the Council considered the high-profile data breaches reported throughout 2022 and noted that people who have been affected by the recent data breaches are less likely to share personal information and participate in surveys. Council members advised that businesses, government and academia are all experiencing greater reluctance from people to share personal information.

The Council noted the ABS is exploring new avenues for government agencies to securely access and analyse private sector data with consent from within a data supplier’s operating environment. Additionally, the Council noted the ABS had conferred with Commonwealth departments and agencies to share experiences, challenges, and priorities for the use of private sector data.

To maintain privacy and social licence, the Council recommended the ABS continue to build trust with private sector providers, expand the work program on privacy management, and undertake privacy impact assessments. While there are challenges in acquiring and using private sector data for statistical purposes, the Council supported ABS’ directions in making greater use of data from the private sector to meet the needs of policy and decision makers.

The Council advised the ABS on emerging statistical challenges and opportunities across the jurisdictions and sectors represented. The Council advocated for the following additional priorities:

• increased frequency and detail of statistics reported by State and Territory, including quarterly Gross State Product data, labour force statistics and business insights
• assistance from the ABS to better understand population movements
• more detailed statistics capturing changes in the housing market and other cost of living pressures.

During 2022–23 the Council also found it valuable to consider papers submitted jointly with ABS (the Business Council of Australia and the Department of Finance) and independent of the ABS (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research at University of Melbourne).

At the August meeting, the Council noted the 2021 Census Program had finalised all data capture, processing and coding activities and had released the first set of Census data. The Council noted the 2021 Census Program would soon release the second and third Census datasets, and present public data seminars and targeted stakeholder briefings.

The Council congratulated the ABS for the successful delivery and dissemination of the 2021 Census during the pandemic. The Council expressed gratitude to ABS strategic partnership managers in helping State and Territory members interpret Census data and obtain insights.

At the December meeting, the Council noted the ABS has commenced a dual track approach as part of the 2026 Census Program, with the larger track focussed on the delivery of the Census in 2026 and a second, much smaller, set of work on the future design and transformation of Australian Censuses with a 2031 and beyond horizon.

At the March meeting, the Council noted the ABS had begun a broad public consultation process on the topics and questions for the 2026 Census. The Council considered the development of 2026 Census topics and questions. Council members noted that the ABS will make a recommendation to the Government on the topics for the next Census and that the final decision on 2026 Census topics will be made by the Government.