Leigh calls out the new federal data agenda: Totes will adjust

When it comes to crafting and measuring the effect of public policy, patchy or badly delayed data is universally recognised as a key barrier to getting an accurate picture as to whether money, effort and resources are being well-spent, wasted or simply misdirected with the best of intentions.

But in the wake of the COVID pandemic, where daily numbers defined our lives, our freedom of movement and often whether or not we kept our jobs (short or long term) it became rapidly clear that years of spartan funding of the Australian Bureau of Statistics and a reliance on lagging indicators needed to be addressed to give government and the Australian Public Service a faster and cleared picture of unfolding events, patterns and impacts.