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From the 27-31 July 2009 the Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies ran a 5 day Training Course on ‘Statistics, Knowledge and Policy’ in collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
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The course focused on the importance of statistics for democracy and democratic decision-making; measures of progress that go beyond GDP; tools to transform statistics into knowledge; evidence, civic engagement and policy-making; the role of National Statistical Offices in the 21st Century and their boundaries.
During the course we had a debate entitled “Does Australia understand its progress? And would better measurements improve life?” This debate was held in the main ABS auditorium for all staff and webcast around the ABS regional offices. Brian Pink (Australia’s Chief Statistician) chaired the debate, Dennis Trewin, Richard Denniss (the head of the Australia Institute), and Ben Rimmer (Deputy Secretary, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet) also took part on the panel, as did Bob Gregory - a well known economist from the Australia National University. The debate can be viewed soon.
This was again a very successful course for which we received a lot of positive feedback. Comments from our participants included:
- Improve awareness of the way we can use information, Scott Johnston, ABS
- It’s exciting to see the collaboration of passionate and progressive minds in the global project, Ms Gemma Wood, Australian Capital Territory Demographer,Chief Ministries Department
- I believe this course would be useful in fostering dynamism in some statisticians who are very set in their ways. The course encourages you to question what your message really is and how you communicate it. Progress is not universally understood, Bjorn Jarvis, ABS
- The course is essential for all involved in some way formulating, developing, proving and directly using data, Mark England, NSW Casino, Liquor and Gaming Control Authority
- Thank you for providing the best training course I have attended at ABS - it was well run, challenging and interesting. …the speakers and material provided me with much food for thought and inspiration. Kay Barney, ABS
For more information you can view the Agenda and Presentations as well as the Training course Preparation Booklet.
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