Information Publication Scheme Agency Plan

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an independent statutory authority established under the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975. The ABS is Australia’s national statistical agency and an official source of independent, reliable information. The ABS recognises that public sector information is a national resource managed for public purposes.

The ABS encourages public participation in government processes and increasing scrutiny of its activities. The ABS is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) and is required to comply with the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) requirements. The IPS is one of several mechanisms through which ABS-held information is made available to the public.

The ABS is required to protect the confidentiality of information collected under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (the C&S Act). This means that the ABS cannot publicly disclose information collected under the C&S Act in a way that is likely to enable the identification of a particular person or organisation.

This plan describes how the ABS proposes to comply with the IPS, as required by s 8(1) of the FOI Act.

The purpose of this Information Publication Plan is to:

• articulate how the ABS is responding to IPS requirements
• identify the information that the ABS publishes, and how and to whom the information is published
• identify any information that the ABS will publish in the future under the IPS
• identify any actions that the ABS needs to take to otherwise comply with IPS requirements (s 8(1))

The ABS’ objectives of this plan are to identify the actions the ABS must take to be compliant with IPS requirements. Specifically, this plan describes how the ABS will:

• identify and publish all required information (s 8(2))
• identify and publish any optional information to be published (s 8(4))
• review and ensure on a regular basis that information published under the IPS is accurate, up to date and complete (s 8B)
• ensure that information published under the IPS is easily discoverable, understandable, machine-readable, reusable and transformable
• ensure satisfactory compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Version 2.0) (WCAG 2.0)
• monitor the success of the ABS IPS contribution by reference to feedback and compliance review processes.

The Program Manager, Legislative Compliance and Parliamentary Branch will be responsible for managing IPS compliance in the ABS.

The Legislative Compliance and Parliamentary Branch will liaise with the web publishing team and other teams managing published content to ensure that the IPS contribution published on the ABS website is discoverable, understandable, useable, accessible, up-to-date, and accurate.

Each branch of the ABS is responsible for the day-to-day tasks associated with complying with the IPS. For example, the Legislative Compliance and Parliamentary Branch will be responsible for maintaining the disclosure log for FOI requests and managing requests from Parliament.

The ABS will conduct an annual review of the ABS’ IPS entry to coincide with the release of the ABS’ annual report to ensure it remains accurate, up-to-date, and complete. The ABS will conduct an annual review of ABS FOI requests to coincide with the annual FOI reporting, to identify commonly requested information that the ABS should consider adding to the ABS IPS entry.

Information is one of the ABS’ most valuable assets. The ABS has an information governance framework and an ABS Information Management Implementation Plan 2022-2027. The plan provides a roadmap to uplift our information management and governance practices, which will improve the ABS’ information asset management to support IPS compliance.

Fees and charges

There is no application fee for an FOI request.

There are no processing charges for requests for access to documents containing only personal information about you. However, processing charges may apply to other requests. More information on FOI fees and charges are located on the ABS Freedom of Information website page.

The ABS IPS entry is published on the ‘About’ section of the ABS website  under the following headings:

Required information

• Information Publication Scheme Agency Plan   (s 8(2)(a))
• Our organisation (s 8(2)(b) and s 8(2)(d))
• Legislation and Policy (s 8(2)(c) and 8(2)(j))
• Corporate reporting (s 8(2)(e))
• Consultation (s 8(2)(f))
• Freedom of Information and Disclosure log (s 8(2)(g) and s 11C)
• Documents tabled in Parliament by the ABS (s 8(2)(h))
• Information Publication Scheme (s 8(2)(i)).

Other information (s 8(4))

• Key priorities
• Media releases and statements
• Our commitments
  • Commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

To ensure that the ABS’ IPS entry and individual IPS documents are easily discoverable and understandable, the ABS:

• has a Freedom of Information page as the entry point to the IPS entry for our website
• wherever possible, provides online content in a format that can be searched, copied and transformed
• has updated the sitemap to help individuals identify the location of information about the IPS for our website
• provides a search function for our website.

The ABS will, as far as possible, make its IPS information holdings available for re-use on open licensing terms.

The ABS will ensure, to the extent possible, that all documents available on its website conform to WCAG 2.0 AA. Where a person requires an alternative accessible format of a document, it will be made available on request.

Most documents listed on the IPS section of the ABS website are published in HTML format to meet accessibility requirements. A small number of exceptions may apply to:

• PDFs made of images of scanned documents
• Documents that are out of date, but are provided for historical reference (these will be supplied in the formats in which they are currently available)

The ABS will publish documents required to be published under the IPS (s 8(2)) in the About section of the ABS website under the following headings:

Our organisation

This section will provide information about the ABS, including links to the ABS organisational chart, information about statutory appointments, corporate reporting, and our commitments.

Legislation and policy

This section will outline the functions of the ABS and its governing Acts, policies and documents tabled in Parliament.

Corporate reporting

This section contains the ABS’ Annual report and Corporate plan, ASAC annual report and regulatory performance reporting.

Consultation

This section contains information on how to participate in the ABS’ public consultations, what public consultations are currently open and recently closed, and outcomes of past consultations.

Freedom of Information and Disclosure log

This section contains information on documents which the ABS routinely gives access in response to requests under Part III of the FOI Act, and documents that have been previously disclosed through FOI requests.

Documents tabled in Parliament by the ABS

This section contains information on ABS survey documents tabled in Parliament and the ABS indexed list of files produced every six months under Senate Order No. 12.

Information Publication Scheme

This page introduces the IPS and the contact details for an officer who can be contacted about access to ABS’ information or documents under the FOI Act. The ABS has an established email address for this purpose that will not change with staff movements.

The ABS will publish other information that we hold (in addition to the required information published under s 8(2)), considering the objectives of the FOI Act (s 8(4)).

Other information will be published in the About section of the ABS website under the following headings:

Key priorities

This section contains information on our latest developments and activities.

Media releases and statements

This section contains information on current and previous media releases, and ABS announcements.

Our commitments

This section contains information on how the ABS will meet public and Government expectations.

The ABS is dedicated to ensuring that the information it provides under the IPS is complete, accurate, up-to-date, and readily accessible. The ABS will ensure this by reviewing the content of the IPS and the agency IPS plan at least annually to coincide with the release of the ABS’ annual report. The ABS will also comply with section 9 of the FOI Act to complete a review of the operation of the IPS as required.

The ABS will adopt the following criteria for measuring its performance in complying with the IPS requirements:

1. Agency plan - has the ABS published a comprehensive plan for its IPS compliance?
2. Governance and administration - does the ABS have appropriate governance mechanisms in place to meet its IPS obligations, including a sound information management framework?
3. IPS document holdings - has the ABS reviewed its document holdings to decide what information must be published under s 8(2) and information that can be published under s 8(4)? Is the ABS’ IPS entry accurate, up-to-date, and complete?
4. IPS information architecture - does the ABS have a publication framework in place and has it taken the necessary steps to ensure that information in its IPS entry is easily discoverable and accessible?
5. Agency compliance review - does the ABS have appropriate processes, systems, and resources in place to monitor and review its IPS compliance and to make necessary improvements to its IPS implementation?