Australian Data Strategy

Download the full Australian Data strategy.

The Australian Data Strategy Snapshot

The Australian Government’s whole-of-economy vision for data.

The Strategy

Australia’s first Data Strategy sets our vision to become a modern data-driven society by 2030, and outlines our approach to publicly held data as a key driver of the future economy. The Data Strategy brings together the diverse elements that maximize data’s value, protect it to build public trust, and enable its use. Achievements under the Data Strategy, together with new challenges and opportunities, will be reviewed in 2025.

The Vision

A national ecosystem of data that is accessible, reliable, and relevant and is able to be easily used to empower our national endeavour towards a data driven society. The Strategy ensures data can be leveraged to deliver services, promote competition, and generate better choices for Australians as individuals, business owners, and community groups. It also describes the way that the Australian Government protects data to minimise the potential for negative impacts and generate trust.

We recognise the need to improve economy-wide data use and re-use, delivering outcomes for individuals and businesses, and helping governments to deliver
more effectively. We are:

Explaining the benefits data can bring to consumers, businesses, researchers and the Government, and how the data generated and used by different sectors can support others.
Breaking down unnecessary barriers and simplify data use and sharing, enabling people, organisations and governments to get more value out of data.
Recognising the importance of data throughout its entire lifecycle, and describing how data can be useful to different people.

We describe how the Government keeps data safe and secure We also use and manage data in appropriate ways. We are:

Improving understanding of cyber threats, both within and outside the public sector.
Hosting data securely as we move toward the cloud, through the Australian Government hosting certification framework and protective security policy framework.
Progressing reforms to strengthen privacy protections online, including in new technologies like AI.
Keeping data safe, while having a plan in place to act quickly and effectively to respond to data breaches.
Using data in ways consistent with public expectations

Our intent is to enable greater use of data by investing in data infrastructure, management, skills and capability. We will be:

Integrating data where it can help inform policy development, programs, and service delivery, or business and consumer outcomes.
Building data skills and capability, investing in education and training pathways for a modern Australian workforce that can support a data-driven economy.
Managing data well to reduce unnecessary regulations, improve data quality and build organisational data maturity within the Government.
Engaging overseas to adopt modern data standards and participating in initiatives to develop a common language when dealing with data.

Action Plan

Our vision will be achieved through actions that build on existing policies and activities:

Progress work to build a new ‘front door’ to guide Australians and businesses towards the right data to suit their needs.
Implement the DAT Scheme to facilitate data sharing and build trust and confidence.

Ensure we have protections for robust and modern cyber security and privacy settings.
Give Australians better visibility and control of their data through the Consumer Data Right.

Develop the data assets we need, like the National Disability Data Asset.
Enable greater portability and certainty about data by expanding domestic and cross-border data flows and by exploring ownership and property rights for data.

Build data expertise and capability across the APS workforce through the Data Professional Stream.
Build the right tools and systems for government data maturity, implement processes, and apply standards to make better use of data across all levels of government.