He left the ABS in 1979 to become Victorian Deputy Commonwealth Statistician in Melbourne but shortly afterwards, he was promoted to First Assistant Statistician and returned to the ABS as the head of Coordination and Management Division, where he led a review of the Census and Statistics Act in the early 1980s.
He championed the adoption of PC and Internet technologies to reduce the cost structure in the ABS[2] and improved the readability of statistical output.
During his tenure, he proposed the merger of the OPCS and the CSO in August 1994, which was subsequently announced by Prime Minister John Major in September 1995 following a consultation period and took place on 1 April 1996 when the Office for National Statistics was launched.
[7] He led the CSO through its early years as a 'Next Steps Agency' with demanding and quantified targets for the accuracy of statistics.
During this period, he developed the work and direction of the ABS; placed great emphasis on the professional development of the staff; and provided a focus for the international activities of the Bureau, with a special emphasis on Asia.