Terms of Reference for Data Collection and Dissemination Plan

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The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), within the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, will lead the development of a Data Collection and Dissemination Plan (the Plan) that:

  • Identifies key national infrastructure and transport statistics;
  • Develops national infrastructure performance measures;
  • Identifies opportunities to use new technologies to collect infrastructure data;
  • Develops means of disseminating data to encourage innovation and improved public and private decision making; and
  • Promotes and identifies priority projects that:
    • Fill key data gaps
    • Develop and report performance relevant to infrastructure operators and customers
    • Support innovation in data collection and use.

The Plan will improve and coordinate information and data collection across key stakeholders, and provide improved and more timely information for infrastructure investment decisions and monitoring of the performance of Australia's infrastructure networks. Developing opportunities to harness new data sources (including 'Big Data') from emerging data sources will be a key part of the Plan's development.

A Steering Group will be established to oversee the development and implementation of the Plan and include representatives from:

  • The Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development;
  • Infrastructure Australia;
  • The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS);
  • Data61;
  • State and territory transport departments
  • Private industry; and
  • Academia.

Collaboration and workshops with key transport and infrastructure stakeholders, and research and data analytics groups will be part of developing the Plan. This will give people working in the transport and infrastructure space an opportunity to highlight what data and information is required to achieve better transport and infrastructure outcomes, and identify methods for obtaining and disseminating this information.

A draft Plan will be available for industry and government comment in six months, and the final Plan will be provided to the Commonwealth Government within 12 months.

Paul Fletcher
Minister for Urban Infrastructure
28/2/17