“Next Tuesday night, most of us will be filling out the census, whether out of a desire to provide better information about how tax dollars should be spent, or simply because not filling it out could mean fines of up to $180 a day.
“But many privacy advocates aren’t happy about it, and some are even threatening to boycott.
“Here’s why.
“The ABS announced it would be doing this in December, saying it would mean “a richer and dynamic statistical picture of Australia”.
“Previously, Australians had the ability to “opt in” to have their names kept. But now it’s compulsory.
“The ABS said keeping names and addresses would enable it to better combine census data with other survey and administrative data – for instance, census data could be matched with education or health data to help improve support services.”
Read more at ABC.net
