ABS Consultation Hub

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) commenced a second round of public consultation on the Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL) on 2 October 2024 and was open for 11 weeks. The first round of public consultation, held in late 2023, sought feedback on the scope of the review. The second round of public consultation sought feedback on the proposed changes to the classification as well as any key implementation issues for users of the ASCL.

The aim of the review is to update the ASCL to reflect the Languages used in the current Australian community. These updates will help ensure the production of high-quality data, improved data analysis and informed decision making. Submissions from this second round of public consultation will inform the changes made to the ASCL in preparation for the 2026 Census.

A small number of submissions were received from individuals and organisations.

Submissions received suggested:

• Additional languages
• Changes to ASCL labels and the placement of languages in the new structure
• Changes to the ASCL that have not been investigated in the current review.

The ABS did not receive any submissions that raised major concerns about the proposed changes to the ASCL.

The ABS has completed reviewing these submissions and finalising changes to the ASCL. The updated version of the classification, which implements the findings from the 2023-24 review, will be published on the ABS website on 28 March 2025.

The ABS thanks those who have taken the time to provide feedback during the two phases of consultation. 

Any feedback that has been provided, but not investigated in the current review, will be considered in the next review of ASCL.

Future consultation

While this was the final round of public consultation on the proposed changes to the ASCL, you can provide feedback on the ASCL at any time, by contacting the ABS using the email address below.

Any questions?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.