Dear {Contact_First_Name},
It has been said before, and I will say it again: Statistics is a job for professionals. At about the same time when the rate of COVID-19 deaths hit the tragic 100,000 milestone in my native country Germany last month, Clive Palmer was on air with ABC Radio National breakfast host Fran Kelly, downplaying the seriousness of the virus. The Chair of United Australia party continued towing his anti-vaccination line, claiming that there was no data to support the idea that fewer people are getting sick or dying from Covid, due to vaccination. He told Fran Kelly that vaccinating the population “makes no difference from a public health context”.
To support his claim, Clive pointed out that the most vaccinated nation on earth also has the highest number of Covid cases in the world, presenting Gibraltar as a case in point.
During his chat with Fran Kelly, he dished up a phrase frequently used by COVID-deniers: “More people die on the road than from Covid.”
By now you are probably itching to get your hands on this interview, and on Clive Palmer himself, to have a solid discussion with him, from statistician to politician, from professional to layman, debunking his claims one by one. No need. Journalist Christopher Knaus already did so, in this entertaining article “Factcheck: Clive Palmer uses 12-minute radio interview to make false Covid claims” published in the Guardian on 25 November 2021. Enjoy!
Marie-Louise Rankin
SSA Executive Officer
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WA Branch November 2021 Seminar: Research in engineering statistics: Current trends and future challenges,
presented by Manuel Herrera PhD Senior Research Associate, Institute of Manufacturing, University of Cambridge.
Manuel Herrera, who is the 2021 Frank Hansford-Miller Fellow, gave the WA Branch November seminar virtually. His stated intention was to show fellow statisticians what it is like to work with engineering problems using statistics and statistical methods.
As noted by Brenton the seminar fitted in perfectly with the Fellowship since Frank Hansford-Miller was a person who championed Applied Statistics and how it supported the fabric of society and even the politics of the day. |
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The recording of the talk is available here. |
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ABS Symposium on Data Access and Privacy, Event Extended to 3 Days
13 - 15 December 2021, 9:00 AM AEDT, online. Registrations close 6 December 2021
This event just got larger! Having had a terrific response from our invited speakers, the organisers decided to extend the symposium another day. It will now run from Monday, 13 December to Wednesday, 15 December 2021.
Our amazing line-up of speakers includes John Abowd, Chief Scientist and Associate Director for Research and Methodology, U.S. Census Bureau, and Professor Felix Ritchie, an applied economist who has been working with confidential data as a researcher for three decades, and as data manager for two.
These are just two of the many renowned experts who will be speaking during these three days. Make sure to check the expanding program from time to time. |
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IAPA Workshop: Data Storytelling with David McCandless If you want to convince, convey or communicate with business stakeholders using data as evidence, you better have more than a table of numbers ready. Develop your data storytelling and data visualisation skills.
Tuesday 7 December 2021, 8.00am - 12.00pm AEDT Best-selling author and data-designer, David McCandless of Information is Beautiful, will share his process, tricks, and techniques for communicating ideas and telling stories with data.
You’ll explore the thinking behind the best data visualisations, develop your own ideas, interact and exchange ideas with others and maybe even have your data viz ideas critiqued by David. |
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A great example of what you might see if you segment your data solely based on age demographics alone:
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If you have news from the Australian statistical community to share in Stats Matters and Events, please get in touch with us! We love getting feedback too.
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Statistical Society of Australia | PO Box 213 Belconnen ACT 2616 Australia 02 6251 3647 | www.statsoc.org.au |
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