THE CENSUS AND THE BUREAUCRATS
Not only do all Australians know about the Census disaster we would think: so does the rest of the world!
But what we especially noted was taken from the Sydney Morning Herald:
Peter Martin
“A former head of the ABS described the grab for names as the “without doubt, the most significant invasion of privacy ever perpetrated by the ABS” – like an “Australian Card”.
Directed to actually conduct the census, and keen to extract some value from it, (David) Kalisch and his team (had) revived an idea categorically ruled out by his predecessor. Brian Pink had said no to retaining names...Names had always been retained for a short time in order to eliminate duplicates and establish the relationship between household members, but destroyed after checks, usually well before 18 months.
Appearing before the Senate economics committee...Kalisch said nothing about the plan to retain names and addresses. He made a short statement to "update the committee about our census preparations". Things were "on track" and momentum was building. A few months earlier he had told the committee things were coming along "beautifully".
...Information from the census on ethnic or religious backgrounds could be linked to information from the immunisation register to work out what type of families on what types of incomes were the least likely to immunise.
Criminal records could be linked to census records, if permission were given, to see what sort of Australians were convicted of what sort of crimes…”
Just like the unexpected results in the recent federal election, the day might come when Australians will be glad of the recent Census bungle.
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