Teresa Dickinson flicked through her carefully curated notes, a neat set of papers telling the story of a nation. Less than a year after the 2021 census, the deputy national statistician could say with confidence exactly who the average Australian was.

“A female aged 30 to 39 years, living in a coupled family with children, in a greater capital city area, with an average weekly family income of $3000 or more,” Dickinson told journalists and public servants assembled in Canberra on Tuesday.