Client Liaison
Summary of Events

sWAn User Group
Farewell to the Economic and Social Statistics Consultative Groups (ESCG & SSCG) and a big warm welcome to the Statistics WA Network (sWAn)!

During the last quarter, a committee consisting of members from the former groups, along with representatives from the ABS, met to discuss the feasibilty of creating a relevant and new statistics network for WA.

The committee hope to organise the delivery of interesting presentations that have practical applicability to those attending and that are likely to generate discussion.

The first sWAn meeting was held on June 10 at Allendale Square with guest presenters Tom Mulholland from the Department for Planning and Infrastructure and Phil Smythe from the ABS.

A Real Life Mr. Average
In last quarter’s Stats Talk WA magazine, Phil Smythe of the Client Liaison Unit published an article titled “An Average Case - The Search for a Mean Person”.

The article used Census data in an attempt to track down the average Western Australian.

Phil’s article narrowed a field of 2.16 million Western Australians down to a mere 32 average people - no mean feat.

A few months after being published, a ‘modern day’ Mr. Average was surprisingly discovered in an ABS ‘Free Stats on the Web’ training seminar.
Out and About
Information Skills Program manager Margaret Garner and Information Consultancy guru Howard Garner are representing the ABS on a Roadshow being held at the Great Southern TAFE in Albany.

The Roadshow provides an ideal opportunity for the ABS to increase statistical literacy within the broader community by training participants in basic ABS Website navigation and the highly powerful CDATA online Census tool.

Marg and Howard are experienced campaigners and have previously offered their services in a similar fashion at the Dowerin Field Day and the Government Business Information Network.

“Howard and I have over 50 years service with the ABS and continue to be excited by the huge range of information that is available free of charge” said Marg.