[AusNOG] census issues tonight

[Mark Newton]

On Aug 11, 2016, at 9:21 PM, Joshua D'Alton <joshua at railgun.com.au> wrote:

> What data does it actually get that it couldn't just get from the transport authorities (they know their bus/train loads and to/from routes), other government bodies (ATO knows a lot, Centrelink knows probably about 90% of the old people), or industry (who have all the info on DSL/phone subscribers so on).?

They’re trying to get future trends — i.e., stuff that the transport authorities and other government authorities don’t have yet.

e.g., If a suburb has an unusually large number of children, it’ll probably need more high schools in a few years, and more metro rail capacity in ten years to get them into the CBD when they start working. Education departments and public transport authorities have no insight into that, they only see as-is.

Those projects have long lead times. Historically ABS data has been used to draw inferences about the future based on what we know now.

In theory.

In practice, Australia has spent as long as I can remember being run by middle-management rejects who govern by thought-bubble. In that context, ABS data probably isn’t worth much because the people making the decisions just don’t care.

  - mark