Counting All Australians
How do you deliver a census form to someone who lives on the streets? How do you ensure that people who are not fluent in English understand the census questions? How do you count remote Indigenous communities?
The ABS is continuously looking to improve the quality of data collected in the census and, in 2001, we have developed special strategies to improve the quality of data for particular groups, including Indigenous people, ethnic groups and the homeless population.
Indigenous People
Given the remoteness of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and their special characteristics, the ABS has developed an Indigenous Enumeration Strategy to be implemented in the 2001 Census collection process.
These plans, developed in consultation with Indigenous people and associated organisations, centre on the appointment of special census field officers to work with Indigenous communities and elicit their assistance and support. In some remote areas, collector-interviewers may obtain census information by interview rather than via the standard census form. This strategy accommodates people who feel more comfortable communicating verbally, or who have literacy problems. A tailored communication strategy has also been developed to ensure Indigenous communities receive the information about the census and its importance.
Ethnic Groups
In Australia’s multicultural society, information about the census needs to be available to people who have difficulty speaking or reading English. The ABS has developed a strategy to ensure that ethnic groups are enumerated effectively. Incorporated in this strategy is paid media advertising, liaison with community leaders, translation of brochures into community languages and the provision of information to migrant resource centres.
The ABS also employs collectors who are able to speak languages other than English. It is expected that many people will use the census telephone interpreter service which has been established for the census collection period.
Homeless Australians
The ABS works to continually improve collection strategies for individuals who live in boarding houses or refuges, as well as those who live on the streets. For the 2001 Census, senior collection staff have contacted agencies responsible for licensing accommodation likely to cater for the homeless in order to provide information and support. Organisations that provide other services for the homeless have also been contacted to identify possible sites where homeless people are likely to be located. Also, members of the homeless community will be engaged to enumerate difficult areas where significant numbers of homeless people are likely to spend census night.
Readers may be interested in the report from the 1996 Census Occasional Paper series titled Census of Population and Housing - Counting the Homeless (Cat. No. 2041.0).
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