What the Census means for demographers, planners and me

Simone - Myth Buster

Simone has a rich background in human geography, demography and urban planning – a background that was useful in her previous roles in the Commonwealth and State Governments, and now as part of the forecast team at .id. From the Queensland coast to the southern suburbs of Perth, Simone produces population and dwelling forecasts that help local governments make informed decisions about future service and planning needs. She is a regular contributor to .id’s blog and has spoken at several conferences on how our cities and regions are changing. She is a big advocate of evidence-based planning and how Census and other data can inform this. Outside of work Simone is a keen traveller and photographer – interests that tie in well with her professional life and help her to understand “place”.

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5 Responses

  1. simon gray says:

    Totally with you Simone! As a librarian I love it too. I am concerned by the privacy, but even more so, by the idea that maybe the ABS stuffed things up – there are some factors which might go against us getting good results. By introducing a new process with it being online, and at the same time introducing a new privacy setting, it may have created a storm. I do wonder how many non-returns there will be. At my TAFE I am sure many overseas students have no idea what is going on – if it is online, will they ever notice the census going on? Haven’t seen any publicity directed to them about this. In sum, I think it would have been enough to go online this time, and change the privacy setting next time.

  2. Robin Dzedins says:

    What an exciting time to be a demographer!

    I thought fondly of all at I.D.Profile as I filled in my census answers in preparation to sending them off tomorrow. Looking forward to years of interesting blogs.

  3. Ian Bowie says:

    I go along with all three comments. It would be hard to live in Oz without census data in the geographical as well as socioeconomic detail ours give us. I go along with New Zealand’s moves toward fuller use of administrative censuses but cannot comprehend the current media storm about issues with the current census such as about privacy and difficulty. I’m not aware of any security breaches in the past and we should bear in mind both that census data has been held by the ABS in digital form for at least the last three decades and that the last census could be completed online. As for difficulty I admit to having done a little homework on income beforehand but it took me 11 minutes this time (from the ABS email of my password to its email of a receipt). And I am old….well, elderly!

  4. Lynley Hewett says:

    I enjoy reading .ID the population experts and look forward to more of their studies.
    Additionally I have a lot if time for the Australian Bureau of Statistics and also the Department of the Auditor General and his reports.
    I find it very comforting that these three bodies watch out for Australia and Australians and admire their integrity
    The current complaints about tomorrows census questions are a beat up.
    All the information they complain about being asked to give is often easily found on the internet.

  5. jvafs says:

    Such an interesting blog.

    Enjoyed to read it. It is really an exciting thing for census. Hope you will update this kind of blogs in future.

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