Privacy at the ABS

The ABS collects personal information for analysis and production of official statistics. We also use some personal information to help manage and operate our business. Your information helps produce meaningful statistics. These statistics show the real story of Australia, its economy and its people. Your cooperation in our surveys is important in ensuring that people like you are fairly represented in Australia’s story.

We only collect the information we need to do our business. We often review our processes. This ensures that we protect the information we collect in the best possible way.

We have two privacy policies:

• ABS Privacy Policy for Statistical Information - Explains how we handle your personal information to produce statistics
• ABS Privacy Policy for Managing and Operating our Business - Explains how we handle your personal information for use in our business operations

We also have privacy statements that guide how we will handle personal information for specific projects. This includes:

• 2026 Census
• ABS Website 
• PLIDA 
• Recruitment 
• Statistical Learning 

For further information on how we handle personal information for our surveys, refer to: Privacy and security at the ABS.

The ABS is committed to using personal information in an open and transparent way. Under Australian Privacy Principle 5,  we need to tell you why we are collecting your personal information and how we will use it. We do this through our Collection Notices.

We conduct PIAs to better understand the impact of our business activities on your privacy. This includes when introducing new or changed ways of handling personal information that may present a high privacy risk. PIAs help the ABS to:

• design new processes
• keep your information safe
• manage change
• minimise privacy risks 
• undertake new projects or programs.

The Privacy Impact Assessment Register contains a list of our PIAs.

Our privacy policies outline how we respond to privacy queries and complaints. They also explain how to access and correct your personal information.

Email: privacy@abs.gov.au
Phone: National Information Referral Service on 1300 135 070
Post: Privacy Officer
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Locked Bag 10
Belconnen ACT 2616

Please contact us for a hard copy of our privacy policies and privacy statements.