Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, students,
In 1901, just across the way in the magnificent Exhibition Building, the first Australian Parliament was opened.
After the opening, federal Parliament moved only a short distance further, to the building which had housed the Victorian Colonial Parliament in Spring Street.
From 1901 to 1927 federal Parliament met in Spring Street before moving to Canberra.
In other words the infant years of the Commonwealth Government - very exciting years - were spent here in Melbourne.
And we are very privileged to still have those buildings.
The Victorian Parliament of course went back to Spring Street and is still there today.
The Exhibition Building is still going strong. So in Melbourne we can see landmarks in our national history every day.
Those early federal parliamentarians were builders. They passed important legislation which helped build up our nation.
One very significant piece of legislation they passed was the Census and Statistics Act. It was passed in 1905.
That is why the Australian Bureau of Statistics, or more commonly known as the ABS, celebrates 100 years of statistics this year.
In those early years of our federal Parliament, not many laws were passed. It was all very new. Because of this, it shows how important and significant the Census is, and how important it was in 1905 to our new country.
The ABS performs a critical role in Australia’s social and economic planning. It is responsible for collecting and sorting data from all over Australia. Every 5 years, the ABS surveys every Australian home. This is called the Census.
Census information is used for a range of planning purposes by all levels of government as well as private organisations, and the community.
Census information is the basis for all our population figures.
Quiz the children: Who can tell me how many people there are in Australia? (around 20.4million people) – There is actually a counter on the ABS website that gives you an accurate population figure.
Census information helps to tell us who we are as Australians and how many Australians there are. We also use it to try to understand where we are going in the future.
Census figures are used to determine where such things as hospitals and schools are built.
Our early parliamentarian had statistics on their minds even before the Census and Statistics Act of 1905.
Section 24 of our Constitution decrees that "the latest statistics of the Commonwealth" be used to determine how many seats each state has in the House of Representatives. These population statistics all start with the Census.
In other words the Census and official statistics are central to our democracy. And I am very pleased, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, to have responsibility for the ABS, the organisation which conducts the Census.
The Census is held once every five years. The next one will take place on the night of 8 August, next year.
But before the next Census is started, school students around Australia will have the opportunity to conduct their own Census - CensusAtSchool.
CensusAtSchool is an initiative of the ABS, backed by educational organisations around Australia.
It is a voluntary online program involving students from Year 5 right through to Year 12.
I am very pleased to see here today students from Regency Park Primary School and Caroline Springs College. They represent the students across Australia who will be taking part in the CensusAtSchool program.
As with the national Census, students taking part will fill in a questionnaire about themselves. The questionnaire will be filled out online at the CensusAtSchool website.
That will take place from 30 January to 7 July next year. The questions will be non-intrusive and have been developed with the help of the students themselves, reflecting their interests.
Questions will include such subjects as favourite music, what students eat for breakfast and the like.
Once the questionnaire stage is over and the data processed, the data usage stage will begin.
From July 11 next year, students, under the direction of their teachers, will be able to access the data by computer for a range of educational uses across key learning areas, such as Mathematics and Studies of Society and Environment. Teachers will be assisted by lesson plans being developed by the ABS. These lesson plans are aimed to be both interesting and educational.
Students will be able to make comparisons between themselves and other sets of students in other parts of Australia and internationally.
But, as with the national Census, no individual will be able to be identified. The strictest privacy and Internet security will be in place.
What the students will have access to is real, raw data about themselves.
A major aim of CensusAtSchool is to make students aware of the national Census. As I have outlined, it forms a central part of our national story.
The Census also produces jobs. From February next year the ABS will be recruiting people from around Australia to help with the Census. A small army of 30,000 people will be recruited to deliver and collect Census forms.
After the national Census data has been collected it needs to be processed.
A Census data processing centre has been established here in Melbourne at 278 Flinders Lane, on the site of the old National Australia Bank headquarters.
And from May next year the ABS will be recruiting people to work at the centre. Up to 860 jobs will be created.
CensusAtSchool will give students a practical insight into this great national undertaking. It is an excellent introduction to how a census works, using the same stages of the census process.
Another aim of the project is to show students that statistics can be fun. I am sure Adam Spencer will deal with that aspect in more depth.
Not only can statistics be fun, they are interesting. You might not realise it, but we come across them every day. Open up any newspaper and you will find a report based, at least in part, on statistics. And more than likely the ABS will be the source.
Through statistics we find that we as a country are ageing, family sizes are falling, women are having children later in life. We gain a snapshot of how healthy we are as a nation, the distribution of income, areas of disadvantage. All these statistics have implications for planning decisions.
I am sure that in the schoolyards of Regency Park or Caroline Springs Secondary, you will hear students talking about statistics. How many number one hits a favourite band has had. How many kicks and handballs a player had in a football game, how many tackles he made, how many goals he scored.
As for cricket you can barely have a conversation about it without talking about statistics. In the coverage of the Ashes we saw statistics flashed up on the screen all the time. The commentators love statistics. And we do too.
But if someone asked a school student who habitually uses sporting statistics if they would be interested in a career in statistics, that student might be surprised.
Some students might immediately think - how boring.
But I assure you that a career in statistics is anything but boring.
I am confident CensusAtSchool will show students just how interesting - and how much fun - statistics can be.
There is a growing shortage of statisticians in a range of work relevant to the national interest, the private and public sectors and in academia.
It is hoped that CensusAtSchool will encourage statistically able students to pursue tertiary studies in statistics.
Even for those who do not undertake tertiary studies, building skills in creating, using and interpreting data and understanding statistical concepts will be of great importance in their future lives.
It will help them to have a much better understanding of the world we live in. It will help them to make more informed decisions.
When we think about it, we all know people who can reel off statistics. And we have all been part of everyday disputes involving statistics.
We all use statistics even when we seem to be barely aware of it.
We can't just hear someone talking in a statistical way and take that as being the last word on the matter.
That is the thing about statistics: to have any value, they have to be accurate and appropriately applied.
And the ABS has a very high reputation worldwide for the accuracy and integrity of its statistics. People have confidence in ABS statistics and in the way it conducts the Census.
I also have confidence in the worth of CensusAtSchool. It is a fine educational undertaking, based on a program first developed in the United Kingdom and since taken up by other countries, including now, our own.
I would especially like to thank the students who have come here today, for showing to the nation that they want to be counted!
CensusAtSchool is a credit not only to the ABS but to all those involved in its development.
I commend it to the schools of Australia. Thank you.