2016 Changes
1. Every person's identity will remain linked to the data collected, forever.
This was imposed on 5% of the population (1 million people) in 2006 and 2011. Applying it to everybody is a massive extension first attempted in 2006, and revived in 2016
2. The data about each person, from all available Census and ABS Surveys, will be linked together.
This was imposed on 5% of the population (1m people) in 2006 and 2011.
Applying it to everybody is a massive extension first attempted in 2006, and revived in 2016
3. Additional data will be expropriated from other sources and added to each person's record.
This is new in 2016
4. Individual data about people and households will be made available to researchers.
Nominally it will be de-identified, but in practice it will be so rich that it will be readily re-identifiable.
This is substantially new in 2016. (It appears that the ABS is already doing this, without public knowledge)
5. In some cases, the individual data that is released to researchers will even include address, and "anonymised versions of names" (whatever that means).
This is substantially new or entirely new in 2016. (Possibly the ABS is already doing this, without public knowledge)
Each of these features, individually, is a gross, unjustified and unacceptable intrusion into people's privacy, and the combination of them is a serious breach of trust.
Many Australians will be so angry at these breaches of trust that the ABS's reputation is may be irreparably damaged. More importantly, there is a real danger that many Australians will choose to provide inaccurate responses or to boycott the Census altogether, thereby putting at risk the entire project and the hundreds of millions of dollars it costs to run.
