Statistics staff axed

DESPITE a disastrous 2016 Census, the Federal Government has revealed plans to strip $217 million and 408 staff – one in six workers – from the Australian Bureau of Statistics over the next year.

It will also slash its investment in the bureau over the next four years – in time for the next census – but claimed “red tape reductions” and “flexible working environments” would help offset its dwindling resources.

The massive cutbacks will come even though a Senate inquiry into last year’s census recommended greater funding for the bureau and a financial commitment to a 2021 census.

Budget papers revealed the ABS resourcing would be slashed by $217 million over the next financial year, with further cuts planned until 2021.