After being savaged for years by funding cuts and jobs losses under the prior two governments (both Labor and Liberal), thus hampering its ability to perform its functions, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has demanded increased funding to ensure that Australia successfully navigates the “information age”. From The AFR:
Australia’s chief statistician, David Kalisch, says increasing confusion and complexity in measuring economic growth, inflation, labour markets and productivity means that more funding, efficient information-sharing and better recognition of the ABS is needed.
“The ABS is part of the national infrastructure and I think, increasingly, that data is just as important as roads and telecommunications and all the other other forms of infrastructure that we focus on,” Mr Kalisch told The Australian Financial Review.
