Census meltdown? Rubbish, says ABS: Here's what you need to know about census 2016

Daniella Miletic, Megan Levy

The nation's first digital census day is finally here, but privacy concerns and fears of an internet meltdown are still in full swing.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has repeatedly maintained that its system will be able to hold its own when 15 million people flood the census site. They are confident there will not be an internet meltdown.

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2016 Census: what is it?

Bone up on the 2016 Census with this quick overview of the compulsory national survey.

Asked about the ability of the online census database to cope with such heavytraffic, an ABS spokesman said the site could handle "1,000,000 form submissions every hour. That's twice the capacity we expect to need."

He said the transition to online has driven a move to the "strongest encryption technology that current internet browsers will support".

"There is plenty of reserve capacity to cope if more than 80 per cent of Australians choose to complete the census online."

Even so, Australians can fill out their forms any time on Tuesday to avoid online traffic later in the day. They even have until September 23 to complete the online form (you just have to fill it out in relation to Tuesday, August 9).

Meanwhile, privacy angst is bubbling on social media.

"Privacy protests are nothing new," an ABS statement said. "No one takes privacy more seriously than the ABS."

The Census website crashed as an estimated 16 million people tried to log on on Tuesday. Photo: gizmodo.com.au

Professor Billie Giles-Corti, director of the McCaughey VicHealth Centre at Melbourne University, said Australians should remember that the ABS has never had a breach of its data. "It already has had names and addresses for a period of time and this is just extending that," she said.

"The ABS is really critical, it saves lives.

"It's a way of collecting data on the entire populations that helps with all sorts of planning, and in that sense it's critical that we complete it and complete it in a way that makes the data usable."

What is the census?

The Census of Population and Housing is the largest statistical collection of information about Australians. It is carried out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

It provides a detailed "snapshot" of every household, and of every person in that household, on one specific night.

#MyCensus I'm so excited it's Census Day. I love it & the ABS. The data is invaluable for our country. Fill it in and reap the benefits

— Bernadette Foley (@BernadetteMF) August 8, 2016

The information collected will help determine where taxpayers' money will be spent in areas such as health, education, transport and infrastructure.

When is the census?

Music psychologist claims this playlist will help your family wake up on the right side of the bed.

How cute are these first census bubs! #Census2016 https://t.co/JVMSKdhjDi pic.twitter.com/3hcMNewGTT
— riekiedplessis (@riekiedplessis) August 8, 2016

Wake up, it's today. Tuesday, August 9, 2016. Australians can fill out their forms from now to avoid online traffic later on Tuesday and even have until September 23rd to complete the online form.

What will I be asked?

The census asks residents personal information such as marriage status, religion, racial background, how much they earn, and their relationship with other people in their household on census night.

What do I have to do?

From August 1, most households will receive a letter from the ABS, addressed "To the Resident". The letter includes a unique 12-digit login code for that household, and instructions on how to complete the census online. Most households are expected to complete the census online.

Paper forms are still available for those who wish to use them. If a household is unable to access the internet or would prefer to fill out a paper form, they can call the ABS to request one. Anyone doing so will need their 12-digit census login that arrives in the mail.

The paper census form takes seven more minutes to complete than the online form. Photo: Robert Pearce

Paper forms must be completed and returned immediately in the reply-paid envelope.

What if I'm not at home on census night?

The census provides a snapshot of where people are on one particular night. If you're staying with relatives or friends on that night, make sure you're included on their census form. If you have guests staying with you, make sure to include them on your form.

For those staying at an accommodation service - such as a hotel, serviced apartment, hostel or caravan park - your accommodation service provider will give you a form when you arrive.

ABS field officers will be found at certain locations in remote areas such as truck stops and caravan parks. They will provide you with a census form or information on how to complete the census online

If you are overseas on census night, you do not need to complete the form.

Is the census compulsory?

Yes.

Is anything changing this year?

One significant change in the 2016 census is that the ABS will retain people's names and addresses from census forms for longer.

In previous years, names and addresses were retained for 18 months, but that information now will be retained for four years. The ABS announced the change in December, saying it would enable a "richer and dynamic statistical picture of Australia".

Are some people concerned about privacy?

The ABS's plans to retain names and addresses has attracted criticism from some privacy experts and a former Australian statistician, Bill McLennan, who says it is "without doubt the most significant invasion of privacy ever perpetrated on Australians by the ABS".

The ABS says it is "committed to the protection of the privacy and confidentiality of everyone who completes the census".

It says names will be stored separately from the rest of the census data, and will be kept for up to four years and released only in an "anonymised" form for projects "approved by a senior-level committee and subject to strict security provisions".

Those projects will link what the bureau knows about people from the census with other information authorities know about them, "in the public good". No one working with the data will be able to view the identifying information at the same time as other census information.

The level of risk to personal privacy was assessed as being "very low", the ABS said.

Names and addresses will be destroyed four years after collection, in August 2020.

So if the ABS keep our info for 4 years, then we have another census & they keep our info for the next 4 years etc does that not mean 4ever?
— Ley Edgecombe (@alyxei1) August 8, 2016

Happy census day! My 2 cents worth Ignore the privacy political nonsense RE:ABS. The census is extremely valuable to plan for future needs.
— Jason Trethowan (@CEOWestVicPHN) August 8, 2016

Will I be fined for not completing name and address at all or accurately?

According to the ABS, all forms must be "completed fully and accurately".

"Names and addresses have always been a critical part of an accurate census data, so without this information, people would be letting down their community and the planning for services they use," a statement said. "The decision to consider prosecution needs to be made on a case by case basis considering individual circumstances – it is always a last resort and very rarely required."

Fewer than 100 people were fined in 2011, and the ABS expects a similar figure this time round.

Can the ABS tell if you're lying?

As demographer Glenn Capuano of consultancy .id puts it, in every census you find a 99-year-old Indigenous person who was born in Burkina Faso.

He said the optional religion question attracts the most troll answers, with thousands opting to class themselves as Jedis - the fictional religious order from the Star Wars films.

At last count five years ago, there were 64,390 Jedis nationwide, which means there were more followers of The Force than there were Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons.

Officially a Jedi Knight for the Australian census #DontTreadOnMeYouStupidAtheists pic.twitter.com/h3YLc8aDgS
— Dean Winchester (@VamoosRafa) August 8, 2016

All rigorous surveys - even country-wide ones - have some safeguards in place to make sure the outliers get filtered out.

Any self-respecting survey-taker knows there are biases that can creep into the data, and can sniff out any responses that smell a bit off.

Can I be fined for not completing the census?

Yes. If a person fails to return a census form, the ABS will firstly notify that person of their legal obligation to do so.

If that person still does not return a census form, they may face a fine of $180 a day until the form is returned.

The ABS says prosecutions and fines are its last resort.

- with Craig Butt and Lucy Cormack