ABS Consultation Hub

Welcome to the ABS Consultation Hub where you can find and participate in our public consultations.

The hub provides information on new ABS projects and makes sharing your ideas and giving feedback easy. We will use the hub to keep you informed, listen to and acknowledge your concerns and aspirations, and provide feedback on how public input influenced our decisions.

Recently added consultations are displayed below. Alternatively, search for consultations by keyword, postcode, interest etc.

Open Consultations

  • Public Consultation - Modernising the System of National Accounts and Balance of Payments Manual

    The economic manuals that underpin many key economic statistics, including the 2025 System of National Accounts (2025 SNA) and Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual 7 th Edition (BPM7), will be ratified by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) and the...

    Closes 31 January 2025

  • Measuring unpaid care in the Labour Account consultation

    The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has been funded to expand the Labour Account to improve estimates on the total hours spent on unpaid care and their monetary value. These new measures will improve the visibility of the contribution of unpaid care to society and the economy, alongside the...

    Closes 28 February 2025

Closed Consultations

  • 2023 - 24 Review of Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL)

    Overview In 2023, the ABS began a major review of the Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL). The review will update the ASCL to better reflect languages that are widely used in the Australian community. Updates to the ASCL will ensure collection and production of...

    Closed 13 December 2024

  • Australian Industry publication changes

    The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is consulting with users of the Australian Industry publication to receive feedback on proposed changes: removal of items and/or industry detail in Mining industry tables removal of the Industry value added tables ...

    Closed 30 November 2024

  • Business Characteristics Survey Consultation

    The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is consulting with users of the Business Characteristics Survey to receive feedback on proposed changes. The survey currently publishes data under the following releases: Innovation in Australian Business ...

    Closed 11 October 2024

  • ANZSCO comprehensive review - consultation round 4

    The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) continues its comprehensive review of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) with the fourth and final round of public consultation. Transform the future of the classification We are...

    Closed 6 September 2024

  • ASGS Edition 4 Consultation

    This questionnaire asks for your feedback on the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The ASGS is a classification of Australia into a hierarchy of statistical areas developed for the release and analysis of statistics and other data. The ASGS is updated every 5 years to account for...

    Closed 1 September 2024

We Asked, You Said, We Did

Here are some of the issues we have consulted on and their outcomes. See all outcomes

We asked

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) consulted with users of the Business Characteristics Survey (BCS) to receive feedback on proposed changes to survey content and the frequency of the survey.

BCS currently publishes data annually under two separate releases: Innovation in Australian Business (8158.0) and Characteristics of Australian Business (8167.0). Each release contains estimates of key business characteristics along with an alternating annual release of detailed information on the business use of information and communication technologies, or on innovation related activities.

From 2024-25 the collection will move to a biennial frequency. A public consultation was held from 20 August to 11 October 2024 to gather comments on the proposed design of BCS and an understanding of user data requirements.

You said

The consultation highlighted the importance of BCS data in policy and planning activities by government agencies, as well as for academic research by other users. Feedback from users indicated the importance of BCS in capturing data on new or emerging areas of interest to provide insights into business characteristics, performance, productivity and growth analysis.

Common themes emerging from the consultation included:

  • Strong support for the retention of content on innovation activities, business use of ICT, and data on business finance and general characteristics.
  • Strong interest in data on business cyber security incidents and measures, and capturing data on business use of clean technologies.
  • The need for data to be published at a range of levels, including employment size, industry, region, and/or innovation status.
  • The importance of BCS data in the Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment (BLADE) to enable microdata analysis and the need to maintain the BCS time series as much as possible.
  • Support for the survey content from both releases to be combined into one survey, and continued publication of the same level of detail, where possible.
  • Interest in capturing data on supply chains and reasons why businesses seek finance.
  • The need to retain content where there are no alternative data sources available.
  • A preference for the survey to include a supplementary module of questions to capture data in response to emerging trends or technological advances.
  • Support for the ABS to engage with users on potential future topics that could be included in the survey.

Feedback was also received that is beyond the scope of the current BCS collection. This feedback will be evaluated for potential integration in future, including considerations of suggested new topics for inclusion as core content or part of a modular suite.

We did

Stakeholder consultation has been pivotal in shaping the design of the biennial BCS. As a result of the feedback, the ABS will

  1. Combine important content from the Characteristics of Australian Business and the Innovation in Australian Business surveys into one collection. Data will be collected and published every two years.
  2. Design the survey with an option of a small, flexible modular component to capture data on emerging areas of interest or to meet point-in-time data needs.
  3. Continue to publish high quality data by employment size, industry, state/territory, and location, where appropriate.
  4. Continue to support microdata analyses in BLADE through the provision of high-quality data files following each BCS cycle.
  5. Continue to offer services to respond to data needs through data consultancies on request.
  6. Investigate options to address data gaps relating to supply chains, business finance, and management capabilities.

Next steps

Over the next four months the ABS will design and develop the new biennial collection, including field testing to ensure the survey continues to collect high quality data on business characteristics, business use of ICTs, and innovation activities of Australian businesses.

We asked

From 25 July to 6 September 2024, the ABS conducted a fourth and final round of public consultation for the Comprehensive review of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO). For this round of consultation, the ABS sought views on the proposed structure of the classification, any implementation concerns and feedback on the web page layout of the draft classification.

This fourth round of consultation was an opportunity for users of the classification to provide feedback for a final time before the classification update is finalised in December 2024.

Organisations and individuals were invited to provide both positive and negative feedback on the draft classification which is based on the proposed changes from the previous three rounds of consultation.

You said

The ABS received over 200 feedback responses from all levels of government, businesses, Jobs & Skills Councils, industry bodies/associations, unions, academics and individuals.

To inform the final updates to the classification structure, its implementation and any other proposed changes, collaborative workshops were organised with a wide range of stakeholders eager to participate and contribute their expertise.

Stakeholders provided both positive and negative feedback on:

  • changes already made to occupations following the first three rounds of consultation
  • groupings of occupations within the classification structure, and
  • changes made to the layout of the classification.

While most changes made to ANZSCO during the review were welcomed by stakeholders, consultation also highlighted areas for refinement, additional emerging occupations and concerns regarding implementation of the new classification.

We did

After four rounds of consultation during 2023 and 2024 and receiving over 800 submissions, the consultation phase of the comprehensive review of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) has concluded. The ABS is now reviewing the feedback received on the draft classification before finalising the updated classification.

Next Steps

The classification update will be released on the ABS website in December 2024.

The updated classification will be reflected in labour market statistics from August 2026 and in the 2026 Census data. This will improve visibility of new and emerging occupations.

We are also working on a plan for more frequent updates of the classification, and a way for users to provide input to these updates.

We extend our thanks and appreciation to all stakeholders who have provided contributions and expressed their views in the comprehensive review and update of the classification.

We asked

In preparation for the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4 due to be released in 2026, the ABS has been consulting with stakeholders to ensure this framework is still meeting user needs. Between May and September 2024, we invited all stakeholders to contribute their views and provide feedback on the ASGS.

You said

A total of 96 submissions were submitted with feedback received from all levels of government, commercial organisations, non-government agencies, academics and individuals.

A summary of feedback is presented below:

Main Structure

82% of respondents rated the Main Structure as either very suitable or suitable with only 5% of respondents rating the Main Structure as either unsuitable or very unsuitable. Some respondents noted that specific geographies within the structure were exceeding their population design criteria.

71% of respondents who reported using Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA) rated the geography as either very suitable or suitable with 8% rating GCCSA as unsuitable or very unsuitable.

Majority of respondents were supportive of minimal change to Statistical Area Level 3, Statistical Area Level 4 and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas geographies for ASGS Edition 4 (2026) and were supportive of reviewing those geographies ahead of ASGS Edition 5 (2031). Respondents noted that population growth and change needed to be addressed, as well as balancing the impacts of change on time series for these geographies. Respondents recommended communicating any proposed changes early and the need for support to manage changes through the provision of correspondences. Better alignment of these geographies to administrative regions were flagged for consideration as part of any review.

Indigenous Structure

58% of respondents who used the Indigenous Structure found it fit for purpose, while 6.5% of respondents found the structure unsuitable or very unsuitable. Respondents noted that Indigenous Locations may contain more than one community which was viewed as an issue. It was also suggested to name communities after language groups.

Respondents suggested for future editions of the ASGS, consideration to be given for inclusion of the following geographies: first nations and language groups, native title, and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies map.

Urban Centres and Localities

79% of respondents were supportive of adopting Mesh Blocks as the building block geography for Urban Centres and Localities for ASGS Edition 4 (2026). Some respondents noted concerns about time series and impacts of design on Significant Urban Areas in some locations.

Additional issues raised included the naming convention for ‘Rural Residential’ which could be confused with land planning zones, and the State/Territory aggregated based rural residential definition limited the ability to analyse specific rural residential community locations. It was also suggested that specific rural residential community locations should take on the name of nearby Urban Centres and Localities. Other issues raised included data availability for Mesh Block built Urban Centres and Localities.

Remoteness Structure

Over 70% of respondents who used Remoteness Areas found them to be fit for purpose. Some of the concerns raised included the lack of recognition for seasonal access to remote communities in the calculation of remoteness and the need for more distinction within existing remoteness categories.

There were mixed responses to our proposal of a review of the structure for ASGS Edition 5 (2031). Some suggested improvements and the need for revision while others stressed the importance of keeping it unchanged. Most concerns raised about a review of Remoteness Structure included impact on time series, more information required on methodology and data sources, concern that the classification could be removed from the structure, and how future change may impact organisations that use Remoteness Areas.

Non ABS Structure

A majority of respondents, 91%, had no significant concerns with removing Tourism Regions from the Non ABS Structure for Edition 4 (2026), provided correspondences to mathematically convert data to and from Tourism Regions were published. Some concerns were raised if Tourism Regions were no longer defined by any organisation as well as concerns around education on how the geography relates to other ASGS structures if removed from the classification.

90% of respondents had no significant concerns with removing Australian Drainage Divisions from the Non ABS Structure for Edition 4 (2026). Some concerns were raised if removed from the ASGS, due to the use of Australian Drainage Divisions in local planning activities.  

A number of other administrative boundaries were suggested for inclusion in the Non ABS structure of the ASGS. These suggestions were able to be grouped under the themes of health, environment and government. Examples include:

  • Primary Health Networks
  • Local Health Networks
  • Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics broadacre zones and regions
  • Council Wards/Divisions

Alignment to cadastre

The majority of respondents did not raise concerns about updating the alignment of the ASGS to cadastre (the geographic representation of parcels) for Edition 4 (2026), and our assessment that it would have almost no impact on geocoding at the Mesh Block level. Respondents were supportive on realignment in cases where it would affect ABS approximations of administrative boundaries including suburbs and Local Government Areas.

We did

In response to the feedback the ABS is currently in the process of analysing these submissions in detail and incorporating the input into our decision making for the ASGS Edition 4, due to be released in 2026. We will be meeting with stakeholders from the consultation who requested follow up. The ABS will publish an information paper outlining the broad changes to ASGS Edition 4 that will incorporate this input along with further research by mid-2025.   

Please email geography@abs.gov.au with any questions on this consultation or for further information.