2903.0.55.002 - How Australia Takes a Census, 2006  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 06/01/2006  First Issue
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MEDIA RELEASE

January 06, 2006
Embargoed 11:30am (AEST)
C1/2006
7 Months to go until the census of population and housing on 8 August 2006

In the days leading up to the Census on 8 August, each household in Australia will be delivered a Census form and a guide to help fill in the form.

The total weight of the paper used in the Census Guides alone is about 500 tonnes, or the total weight of over 300 family sedans. If the papers of all the Guides were laid end to end, the paper would stretch around the entire Australian coastline.

The printing of the Census forms is an even bigger job. There will be nearly 13 million Census forms printed. Their total weight is 950 tonnes. The forms are printed on high grade paper specially designed to allow scanning by the Data Processing Centre in Melbourne.

These are the two main components of the 1,800 tonnes of printed material that will be used on this year's Census.