Host

NatStats08 Board

Chair	Denis Farrell, First Assistant Statistician - Population and Environment Statistics Division, ABS.
Convenor of the 'Informing the Nation' Sessions	Dr Peter Crossman, Queensland Assistant Under Treasurer and Government Statistician, Office of Economic and Statistical Research.
Convenor of the 'Measuring Progress in Australia' Sessions	Adjunct Professor Mike Salvaris, Applied Human Rights and Social Well being Research, in the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning at RMIT University.
Convenor of the 'Informing the Environment Debate' Sessions	Dr James Bradfield Moody, General Manager, International Development, CSIRO.
Convenor of the 'State Planning Initiatives' Session	Carl Obst, Regional Director, Victorian Office, ABS.
Project Manager	Mark Lound, Director, Statistical Coordination, ABS.

The Conference Program is being finalised around the following themes: Informing the Nation, Measuring the Progress of Australian Society, Informing the Environment debate, Enabling Business Outcomes.

National Statistical Service - NSS

NatStats08 is a key event in the development of the National Statistical Service (NSS).

What is the NSS?

The NSS is the complete range of statistical services that are collectively provided for Australia. It provides an accurate, up-to-date, comprehensive and meaningful picture of the economy, society and the environment to support the formulation and monitoring of policies.

The NSS is an initiative being led by the ABS to improve Statistics for national decision making. Even though the ABS provides statistics on a wide range of economic and social matters covering government, business and the population in general, it is just one of many providers of statistics that are used to inform research, discussion and decision making within governments and the community (albeit the largest).

The wide range of statistics being produced by agencies other than the ABS, including through administrative and transactional data bases, is driving a need to ensure a cohesive Australian statistical system. At the same time the agendas of governments across all jurisdictions are emphasising greater information sharing (create once, use many), and coordinated policy and program initiatives.

This conference will for the first time bring together the key statistical users and producers in a major forum to discuss improving the statistical base for Australia.