A View From The Top
From the Regional Director
Where are our future statisticians? Why are enrollments in University level mathematics falling? Why is it important? In a world of evidence based policy making, the ability to understand and interpret statistics is increasingly critical to effective government decision making.
Yet, across the public sector, it is an area where our skills appear to be declining. For the ABS this is a serious issue. Statistically literate people are critical to effective policy development. They know how to find data and most importantly how to use it effectively. With them, the large volume of data produced by the ABS is an effective aid to government policy making. Without them, we just have “lies, damned lies and statistics”.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is not just a huge repository of data. Part of our mission is to develop statistical literacy across the community so that the repository can be used to maximum advantage for Government. Here in WA we are looking at ways to build the statistical community through networks, placing our skilled people in external agencies and training people in using the data that we and others produce. If you think you can benefit from our knowledge, skills and expertise and help build statistical literacy in WA we would like to hear from you. You can contact us at the ABS in Perth on (08) 9360 5945.
Michael Tindall,
Government Statistician and
ABS Regional Director,
Western Australia
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