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Capability 2.2.9

Demographic

Definition

Population and household datasets including Census microdata, vital statistics, migration, education and longitudinal household surveys.

Examples

  • ABS Census of Population and Housing
  • ABS Labour Force Survey
  • Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) (National Centre for Vocational Education Research)
  • population registers and vital statistics (ABS/Services Australia).

Indicators

  • Census update frequency and microdata accessibility
  • Data linkage between Census, education, and tax records
  • Standardised metadata schema
  • Federated compliance and scalability (legal and institutional interoperability)
  • FAIR compliance (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable)
  • CARE compliance (collective benefit, authority to control, responsiblilty and ethics)
  • Provenance and lineage tracking
  • Consent frameworks
  • Onshore hosting and secure processing environments (e.g. SURE)
  • Clear licensing
  • Longevity and version control
  • Domain specific data standards
  • Machine readiness formatting

National AI Plan

PLAN COMMITMENT

Limited commitment

Identifies the ABS as a national data source used to monitor adoption and skills development (p8), and notes that ABS datasets may be made available to support AI training (Action 2), but does not include targeted initiatives relating specifically to demographic data or any system-level improvements. Limited commitment by government in the plan represents a missed opportunity. More should be done to leverage this very high agency. This is one of 8 capabilities over which Australia wields very high agency; national priority should be given to maintaining this agency and leveraging it internationally to offset gaps in other capabilities of low agency.

Stocktake

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics Census & Labour Force Data. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Accessed October 2025. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics

  • Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY). National Centre for Vocational Education Research / Australian Government Department of Education. Accessed October 2025. https://www.lsay.edu.au

  • Population & vital statistics registers. Australian Bureau of Statistics / State and Territory Registries of Births, Deaths & Marriages. Accessed October 2025. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population

Is the Stocktake missing evidence?

Share additional information for potential future Assessments