Statement by the Australian Statistician thanking the Australian public for their support of the Census

Overall, the Population Census is going very well. The participation to date, along with the media reports and the feedback our Collectors are getting on the ground all point to a high level of support for the Census by Australians.

There has been more public interest in this Census than any previous Census.

We believe this is because most Australians understand that the Census is ultimately a useful tool for their community and by taking part they are in some way helping their community prepare for future needs.

The vast majority of Australians have their Census form. But there have been a few areas where Collectors have had difficulties. We will do our best to get Census forms to all these people as soon as possible.

Contrary to the fears of some, people won't be penalised for not filling in their form on Census night. Just fill in your form when you get it, with reference to how your household was on the night of 8 August. The collection period does not finish until 28 August.

Because of their special circumstances, some remote communities (especially Indigenous communities) are being counted in the weeks before and after Census Night, rather than on Census Night.

The Australian-based call centre set up by the ABS to assist people received more than 80,000 calls on Census Night (8 August). There were problems on 7 August when a communications line to the Geelong call centre malfunctioned. The call centre was operational all day on 8 August, but there were waiting times of about five minutes during the busy period in the morning. The waiting time was less than a minute by the afternoon.

The Internet Census worked perfectly. Nearly 600,000 Australians successfully completed their Census this way. There were several attempted 'denial of service' attacks, but they were repelled. The security of the site was proven.

I would like to thank those people who have completed their Census form for their cooperation.

Dennis Trewin
Australian Statistician