"Statistics"

A recent dispute in statistics between a federal minister and the nation's Treasury has again reminded us on the importance and potency of statistics.

People may still remember another set of disputed statistics between a research institute and a federal agency causing an economics researcher to resign, a few years back. The moral of these stories is that statistics can always be misused and read differently. When people quote statistics, they should quote results from reliable sources, not just "according to statistics" or "according to poll". God knows any liar can create a poll or statistics in split second.

The dispute between the Treasury and the federal minister may go beyond statistics deep into politics, but whatever the reason is, both their 'statistics' methods and results should be evaluated further because we deserve to know the true amount of money involved.