Turnbull to spend $131m linking up govt datasets

The federal government has allocated $131 million to a new program that aims to link up disparate datasets on government programs to analyse the long-term effectiveness of its policy delivery.

It will establish the Data Integration Partnership for Australia (DIPA) within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, paid for out of the public sector modernisation fund contained in this year's federal budget.

The DIPA will connect all the separate datasets from across the public service in an effort to better examine how well government programs are delivering on their aims.

The intention is to take a longer-term approach and develop data over time on program outcomes compared to similar reviews undertaken by the likes of the Productivity Commission.

One example of the unit's areas of focus will be the costs and benefits of different forms of industry assistance.

It will also study the risk of disability in the workplace, support for disabled workers, and the effects of adverse reactions to medication.

The DIPA will introduce new systems to build longitudinal data about populations, businesses, the environment and government. The data will be de-identified and opened up to third parties.

Digital transformation minister Angus Taylor said the data compiled by the DIPA would help support more targeted policy development.