Angus Taylor, Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, and a keynote speaker at 22nd September FST Government Australia conference in Canberra, has announced plans to ramp up big data skills.  

The Commonwealth’s Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, Angus Taylor, has unveiled a new framework to addresses the gap for big data skills across government.

Minister Taylor, a keynote speaker at the Annual FST Government Australia conference, to be held 22nd September in Canberra, is weighing in behind big data analytics. The latest framework seeks to ramp up its data skills talent pool.

An Australian Public Service (APS) Data Skills and Capability Framework was launched this month. This outlines plans to close a perceived data skills gap among government staff. This framework incorporates a data fellowship program, university courses, an APS data literacy program, and training partnerships.

Smarter decisions

Up-skilling staff will lead to smarter policy development, says Taylor, together with better service delivery, and a more efficient management of programs.

Given the increased volume and value of data, agencies need a data-savvy workforce. Canberra’s up-skilling plan helps build the requisite expertise, together with being able to analyse and extract the most value from vast repositories of data.

“Data skills and capability are as critically important for the Australian Public Service as anywhere else,” notes Taylor. “Data literacy across the APS will have a critical role in supporting evidence-based decision making, developing more efficient government policy, and delivering services that meet the needs of people across Australia.”

The up-skilling inventory endorses expertise and knowledge across publishing, as well as the linking and sharing of public data. These insights make government services more citizen-focused.

Among the offerings, APS employees will gain access to in-house data training within external organisations.

Current partner organisations for this collaboration include the Open Data Institute Queensland, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, and the Data to Decision Cooperative Research Centre.

The Commonwealth’s data fellowship offers more advanced training to high-performing specialists. These selected candidates will undertake three-month placements within the flagship CSIRO’s research unit, Data61.

This framework supports government moves to maximise the use, sharing and access to public data. Under Commonwealth data initiatives, more than 9,600 datasets have been released on the data.gov.au site.

A Public Data Policy Statement, published last year, requires agencies make their data open by default. Publishing appropriately anonymised government data will stimulate innovation and enable economic outcomes.