Page 64 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 1

IPS57 Joanne H.
In this environment of increased demand for data and statistics, National
Statistical Offices (NSOs) are being challenged to deliver the best possible
statistical program, in more efficient and innovative ways. This demand
presents both opportunities and challenges to make greater use of existing
data sources.

2. Opportunities and Challenges
The availability of big data and large administrative data sources provides
innovative opportunities for the ABS. Existing administrative or market data
can be used to reduce costs, reduce provider load and improve the
sustainability of statistical outputs. It can also improve the accuracy, relevance,
consistency, interpretability and timeliness of the statistical work program.
New statistical products can enable new insights into long standing public
policy questions, particularly from combining big data from various sources,
and combining with collected data such as the Population Census or national
surveys.
The ABS has used big data sources to replace direct collection of data. For
example, since 2014, the ABS has used scanner and web-scraped data in the
production of the Australian Consumer Price Index (CPI). This has reduced the
cost of the collection, increased the size of the sample data, and ultimately
2
increased the accuracy of the CPI.
Big data sources are being investigated for use in improving statistical
processes. For the 2021 Australian Census of Population and Housing,
administrative data sources are being investigated for a range of purposes,
including use in assessing whether dwellings are occupied. Such data can
make enumeration processes more efficient by focussing follow-up activity.
The ABS also makes extensive use of large administrative datasets for data
integration projects. The Data Integration Partnership for Australia is an
investment to maximise the use and value of the Australian Government’s data
assets. Data integration and analysis enabled through this partnership has
created new insights into important and complex policy questions.
3

However, innovative uses of data can bring challenges in terms of public
acceptance of the use of their data in new ways. Increased data use is
happening at a time when levels of trust in Government in Australia (as
evidenced by results from the Edelman Trust Barometer) are lower than the

2 Leigh Merrington, ABS, Continuing to unlock the potential of new and existing data sources,
IAOS Conference, September 2018. http://www.oecd.org/iaos2018/programme/IAOS-
OECD2018 Merrington.pdf (Link as of 24/04/2019.)
3 Another paper for this conference – A Case Study of Data Integration in Australia –
highlights some key data integration projects and the potential for policy insights from
analysis of the integrated data assets.
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