Australia's chief statistician, David Gruen, has defended the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) after it publicly contradicted far-right claims of 'mass migration'. The ABS issued a statement on 22 August correcting misuse of overseas arrivals data, which had been used to support inflated migration figures.
Gruen rejected accusations of censorship from the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a rightwing thinktank, stating the decision to release a clarifying statement was made independently by ABS experts. 'To claim that we were censoring anyone is an odd claim, because nothing's being censored. We went on publishing all the same data,' he said.
The IPA had accused the Albanese government of 'weaponising' the ABS to silence its views. However, Gruen emphasised the bureau's role in upholding truth: 'You are taking sides in the sense that you're trying to take the side of truth.' He added that the ABS 'stands ready to respond' to egregious misrepresentations of its data.
The incident highlights the challenges faced by statistical agencies amid rising disinformation. Gruen noted that reliable data is a pillar of informed debate and warned that 'it degrades the democracy if the stats agency is not independent.' Despite the ABS's intervention, the IPA has continued to claim 'record' migration levels, which ABS data shows are declining.
