$250m boost for nation's number crunchers

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will get a $250 million boost in the federal budget to upgrade its ageing computer system.

The funding boost also puts the 2016 census back on track and will let the bureau build a new office for 250 people in Geelong, Treasurer Joe Hockey and his parliamentary secretary Kelly O'Dwyer announced on Thursday.

Critical parts of the bureau's computer systems are more than 30 years old, with a third of the applications used breaking down daily or weekly.