The bureau was located in Melbourne – at that time the temporary seat of federal government – attached to the Department of Home Affairs.

Some states faced challenges in providing a satisfactory statistical service through their own offices, resulting in mergers with the CBCS.

[11] Once every 5 years,[12] the ABS conducts the Australian Census[13] of Population and Housing as stipulated under federal law in the Constitution of Australia.

[16] The census aims to accurately measure the population, number of dwellings in Australia, and a range of their key characteristics.

Census data is used for defining electoral boundaries, planning infrastructure, establishing community services, and formulating public policy.

[19][20] On 10 August, the Australian Statistician, David Kalisch, stated that the website was closed after denial-of-service attacks from an overseas source targeted the online form; "the first three were successfully repelled and the fourth one caused the difficulty that then led us to bring the system down as a precaution".

[21] A comprehensive review by Alastair MacGibbon, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Cyber Security, tabled in October, concluded that five distributed denial-of-service attacks – in which incoming traffic from many different sources "floods" the site – had occurred.

Publications include things such as: the Key Economic Indicators, Consumer Price Index, Australian National Accounts, Average Weekly Earnings, and Labour Force.

[44] The ABS publishes an annual report with a detailed description of the bureau's activities during the preceding year, accounting for its use of public resources and performance against planned outcomes.

The non-ABS structures within the ASGS have geographical units whose boundaries are defined by bodies such as state governments, and that may or may not cover the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps.

[72] New editions essentially coincide with the 5-yearly ABS censuses, though boundary changes made to Non-ABS structures may be updated as often as annually.

The ABS has a partnership with DFAT to deliver statistical and institutional capability building programs for the Indo-Pacific region, both in-country and by hosting development visits.

The ABS has also hosted international development and study visits from countries including China, Japan, Canada, Korea, and Nepal.