National Disability Data Asset

The National Disability Data Asset initiative brings together information from across Australia to better understand and meet the needs of people with disability.  

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DHDA) works with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on the National Disability Data Asset initiative. 

The DHDA, ABS and AIHW are supporting disability research projects through existing assets:  

• Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA).
• National Health Data Hub (NHDH). 

The ABS protects your privacy and is committed to keeping your information safe and secure.  

The ABS are supporting disability research projects through PLIDA.  You can find out more about how we maintain privacy and security protections for PLIDA data on the Keeping integrated data safe and Privacy in PLIDA pages.

In 2024 and 2025, the ABS collected and combined information for the National Disability Data Asset. We followed relevant laws, including:

• Privacy Act 1988
• Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022
• state and territory laws.  

A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for the National Disability Data Asset initiative was completed by privacy experts in 2023.  A summary of the privacy materials, including the PIA implementation report, is on the ABS Privacy Impact Assessments  webpage.

The ABS meets Australian Government standards for information, personnel and physical security. Our systems and processes conform to the Information Technology security arrangements set out in the Information Security Manual, which is part of the Australian Government's Protective Security Policy Framework.  

Disability research projects may also be reviewed by the Disability-informed Ethical Oversight Panel. The Panel will only recommend projects be approved if they are:  

• not likely to cause harm to people with disability
• aligned with the National Disability Data Asset Charter.

More information is available on the Guiding Principles page of the National Disability Data Asset website. 

For more information about the NDDA initiative, visit www.ndda.gov.au or email ndda@abs.gov.au.