Referenced by 4 other explainers
Indigenous Data Sovereignty is the right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to govern data about their communities: how it is collected, used, interpreted, and shared. This includes data about people, families, culture, land, and community life.
In Australia, these principles have been developed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and researchers. This work includes Maiam nayri Wingara. It draws on the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance.
Census data can help show broad patterns, but it has important limits. The Census can undercount people. Some questions may be left blank. Small-area figures can also be changed by perturbation. This is where the ABS slightly changes small counts to protect privacy. Because of this, small Census counts should be read as patterns, not exact numbers. The right to say what these figures mean for a community sits with that community.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family and kinship systems are often broader than Census household groups. Care for children and family can be shared across many adults and homes. Census family and household groups cannot fully capture this. They count one home on one night.
Place Forecast uses published ABS Census data. It does not create or estimate missing First Nations values at small-area level. It does not back-fill values that the ABS has masked. Place Forecast also shows Not stated groups where the ABS publishes them. This lets users see where Census questions were left blank.
See the marker methodology explainer for more detail on how these figures are created and their limitations.