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5. A CULTURE OF OPEN DATA

While there is a range of agriculture, fisheries and forestry data publicly available within the current Australian agricultural statistical system, more could be done to fully institute a culture of ‘open data’ across the system. The issues and challenges in achieving this will differ between official and non-official statistics producers. ABS and ABARES already disseminate and share data widely. Their challenges lie in improving the accessibility and discoverability of their data and asserting a stronger leadership role in encouraging other stakeholders to release more data. Protecting confidentiality in published statistics is important for ensuring the trust and cooperation of businesses⁶⁷. At the same time, the ABS needs to explore mechanisms for providing secure access to microdata sets to realise the full public policy benefits of its data resources. For other government agencies and industry, real and perceived barriers to data sharing (for example legislative and policy considerations, cost and privacy issues) may need to be addressed before data can be shared more widely. In the case of private industry, aligning incentives to encourage the release of commercially-valuable data would need to be considered.

Critical to deriving full benefits from an open data culture is the development of sufficient statistical capability among users to be able to access and draw value from the available data sources. The NASR identified a gap in the availability of statistical learning resources for non-technical users in relation to agriculture, fisheries and forestry statistics. Work is needed to address this gap, drawing on existing resources such as the ABS Statistical Capability Framework and Learning Hub⁶⁸ . ABS and ABARES should work with stakeholders to identify specific capability gaps and develop learning resources to address them.

Stakeholders consulted in the NASR suggested the establishment of a one-stop portal for agriculture, fisheries and forestry statistics could improve the accessibility and discoverability of both statistical data and supporting statistical infrastructure (such as classifications, standards, best practice methods, and statistical capability materials). The portal could provide services that identify existing agricultural data assets, enable access to those data services, provide resources for survey design and set up, facilitate access to survey sample frames, and could make agricultural data available as open data. A portal may also encourage the development of analysis and dissemination services by the private sector, further improving the value of the data.

FOOTNOTES
⁶⁷ Survey Participant Information: How the ABS Keeps Your Information Confidential.
⁶⁸ The ABS has developed a Statistical Capability Framework which describes what is required for someone to be statistically capable, and covers the ability to: discover and effectively use statistical information (statistical use); produce statistical information (statistical production); and influence and champion the development of statistical data and enabling infrastructure (statistical leadership). A Learning Hub has been developed based on this framework and containing a range of resources aimed at building capability against those three dimensions.