Key Points
- Census night is on Tuesday, 10 August 2021
- Participating in Census is compulsory, and failing to complete the census can lead to hefty fines
- Following the 2016 Census website crash, the ABS has built a completely new census computer system
What is a Census
In Australia, a national count of the general population and demographic characteristics occurs every five years.
Officially called the Census of Population and Housing, this national snapshot provides trusted statistics about people in Australia and the changes since the last national count.
What questions are asked
The Census form has 60 questions about key demographics, such as age, sex, marital status, household composition, work, occupation, etc.
You are also asked questions about language, culture and ancestry.
"We ask a lot of information about culture, so we will ask the language that you speak, we will ask your birthplace, will ask about the birthplace of your parents; we also ask a question on ancestry," says Chris Libreri, General Manager of the Census Division at the ABS.
Census 2021 has two new questions - one about service in the Australian Defence Force and the other about health conditions.
Policymakers use the census data to decide how to allocate taxpayers’ dollars for critical public services Source: Getty Images/SolStock
The Census night
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will run the Census on Tuesday, 10 August 2021, the Census night.
Typically Census is completed on the Census night. But this time, you can complete it as soon as you receive your unique Census number of the household and a temporary password.
Those who can't complete it online can request a paper form through an automated phone request service.
Why is it done?
Census 2021 will gather data from over 25 million people and 10 million households in Australia.
This information is used in making important government decisions about health, transport, schools, infrastructure etc. This information is also used by businesses and community service providers to assess the needs of the community.
If you are going to locate something or if you want to review the services in a particular area, you need to know who lives there and their characteristics. And the census supplies that information," says Mr Libreri.
It also helps understand the needs of a local community when providing relevant services, from local sporting clubs to specific products in supermarkets to books in different languages in a library.
An example is the Orange Aboriginal Medical Service. CEO Jamie Newman says census data helps them assess the needs of the community.
Participating in the Census and enrolling to vote is our people’s way of having a say.
Who needs to participate?
Census, like voting, is compulsory in Australia. The only difference is that you need to participate in the Census regardless of your visa status and whether or not you are an Australian citizen.
If you are sleeping in Australia on Census night, you need to fill in a Census form. It has nothing to do with your status or citizenship.
-Chris Libreri, General Manager Census
Completing the Census is form is mandatory under the authority of the Census and Statistics Act 1905. Failing to do so without a legitimate reason may lead to hefty fines.
"Less than a hundred out of 25 million Australians actually went to court last Census. Fines are usually in the $1,000 range, but it’s imposed by the court," says Mr Libreri.
The only exception is foreign diplomats and their families.
Census is done in nearly every country globally, but the Australian one is the longest Source: WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images
How secure is your data?
The ABS had to pull the Census website on the 2016 Census night after cyberattacks.
A Senate committee concluded that the agency was right in doing so to protect the private data of Australians. However, it said the ABS had failed to address people's privacy concerns following its decision to collect names and addresses of Census participants.
Mr Libreri says keeping the names and addresses of respondents improves the quality of the data.
He stresses that the ABS produces only aggregated statistics and that private information of individuals isn’t released or shared with anyone, including government departments.
"We produce statistics, but we will never, ever release information about an individual person. In fact, it is against our Act, and the ABS is going on for over 110 years, and to my knowledge, we never ever breached that act and released individual information," he says.
The data is basically encrypted as soon as it leaves your computer, and ABS are the only people that have the key.
Under the Census and Statistics Act 1905, the ABS cannot release information about an individual. Source: Getty Images/gremlin
A new "state-of-the-art system" and licenced hackers
The ABS has got a new computer system for Census 2021. The Australian National Audit Office said in November 2020 that the planning for Census 2021 was only "partially effective" and found weaknesses in the system.
But Mr Libreri says the new system is built to the "highest standards", and people can feel "reasonably safe".
We also engaged the Australian security agencies, notably what’s called the Cyber Security Centre, to be with us every step of the way.
"And one other thing we are doing is actually hiring hackers just to make sure that there isn’t anything that you haven’t covered," says Mr Libreri.