Improving information sharing to address national challenges
Data is one of the most valuable assets the Government holds. It can be used to form insights for policy development, help people make better decisions and support agencies to provide better public services. The Government is committed to treating data as a national asset that can be used to improve the lives of Australians.
Value is created by sharing data securely with the right people and re-using that data to deliver better outcomes for society. A key national challenge is responding to and ending violence against women and children. In 2024, the Government partnered with state and territory governments to strengthen information sharing enabling coordinated action between governments, law enforcement, policy makers and service providers to stop gender-based violence. Modifications to the National Criminal Intelligence System will mean police officers, in any jurisdiction, can quickly identify an alleged perpetrator. In addition, the Government invested in stronger data sharing between police, courts and corrections officers through the Criminal Justice Data Asset to inform early intervention and prevention measures across the justice system.
>11,000 data sharing arrangements reported by 19 agencies
This is a new metric and highlights the strength of partnerships between organisations to share data to support better services, policies and programs.
Sharing data across jurisdictions is helping governments to address and respond to the impacts of climate change. The National Bushfire Boundaries Data Services provides Australia’s first harmonised national view of bushfire boundaries. The service combines data from 24 state and territory sources to show near real-time boundaries and historical bushfire extents dating back to 1899. This information is supporting emergency services, government agencies, and the public by offering timely, reliable bushfire data for preparedness, response, and recovery efforts, enhancing cross-border decision-making and environmental resilience.
Through the Data and Digital Ministers Meeting, the Government will continue to strengthen partnerships with state and territory governments to use collective expertise to develop new ways of using data, and find solutions to challenges that society is facing.
Supporting people and business access data to achieve their objectives
Another way to generate value from data managed by the Government is by making it easier for people and business to access that data to help them respond to the issues they face and achieve their objectives. This is reflected in the Government’s commitment to make non-sensitive data open by default, where its safe and ethical to do so.
Hundreds of national datasets are now connected into the Digital Atlas of Australia, including de-identified Income Support Payment data from the Department of Social Services and socio-economic data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. By making this data available through intuitive dashboards, users can easily conduct research to evaluate program effectiveness and make informed decisions to develop targeted support for communities across Australia. Through Safe Work Australia’s Our data, Your stories website, diverse users can work with government data and make evidence-based decisions to improve health and safety outcomes for workers across the country.
The Government is collaborating with community, research and industry sectors to unlock better outcomes for the economy using data. Using the Australian Immunisation Register - Person Level Integrated Data Asset environment, government agencies and research institutions are collaborating to transform data into policy insights that support better health outcomes for all Australians. Austrade’s Datathing unites export data from external sources with Australia’s own trade, investment and education data to provide an accurate snapshot of business performance across markets and sectors that support informed decisions.
A key priority for the Government is using data to reflect and support the priorities and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their communities. To achieve this, the Government is driving implementation of the Framework for Governance of Indigenous Data to guide the ways APS agencies partner and co-design with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on data held by the Government so that it can be used to drive and monitor efforts to close the gap. The Government will continue to build systems and infrastructure to support greater data discoverability, access, sharing, integration and analytics to improve decision-making and public services that improve the lives of all Australians.