Let’s join forces to Save the 2016 Census
If, like us, you think shifting the Census from a five to ten yearly cycle is a bad idea, let’s join forces to stop it. If you believe in planning at the local level for local communities, join with us to help save the 2016 Census. Read on to find a letter you can send to the Prime Minister’s office and the Australian Statistician (Head of the ABS).
.id’s position on the proposed axing of the 2016 Census
The 2016 Census is under threat. It is mooted that we should replace the five-yearly census with a much reduced ten-yearly version, supplemented with survey data in the interim years.
At .id we are the first to embrace new ideas if they lead to better outcomes for the community. Having considered the alternatives (which are not clearly articulated) we have concluded that this would be a serious retrograde step. The proposed axing of the 2016 Census is not to make way for something better, but simply for a cost saving. In our view this is a short-sighted false economy that a wealthy society like Australia would be wise to reject.
There is a lot of debate about replacing the census with sample surveys, metadata collection, etc. This may sound appealing at first glance but for those who use census data regularly it is quickly apparent that we would lose a wealth of knowledge about our community. Read why a survey won’t work for local communities in Glenn’s article Why we need to save the 2016 census.
We believe there are serious implications to Australian communities as the census is key to informing policies, planning service delivery, allocating resources and much more. Through our work, we know that census data makes government expenditure more efficient and helps businesses increase productivity, make investment decisions and generate wealth. It enables all sectors across Australia to make informed and evidence-based decisions for the present and the future. Read more from .id’s founder Ivan Motley about why census data is so important to local communities.
We’re not the only ones who think like this. .id recently joined other leading demographers, sociologists and economic thinkers to petition against the proposal to change the census from five to 10-year cycles. Here’s a transcript of the letter we sent to the editors of The Australian. A subsequent article was published on 10 March 2015.
How can you add your voice?
If you would like to be involved in saving the 2016 Census, .id’s founder, Ivan Motley has penned a letter clearly outlining the case for a five-yearly census. Sign and send this letter to the ABS, the Prime Minister’s office, relevant federal ministers and your local MP.
Let our leaders know how important the census is to us, our community and our future.
If you are working in local government, you will be particularly concerned about losing the census. We suggest you to take this letter to your CEO and encourage a formal submission from your council.
You can also raise awareness amongst your friends and colleagues by sharing Ivan’s letter on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (#saveourcensus, #iusecensus).
It’s important to act quickly as the ABS must make its decision about whether to run the 2016 Census soon.
Send your letters to:
David Kalisch, The Australian Statistician
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Locked Bag 10
Belconnen ACT 2616
The Hon. Tony Abbott, MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
The Hon Scott Morrison MP
Minister for Social Services
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
The Hon Warren Truss MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development
(Leader of the Nationals)
P O Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Minister for Small Business
The Hon Bruce Billson MP
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Minister for Human Services
Senator the Hon Marise Payne
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Please keep the 2016 Census
We’re doing our best!! You can help too by writing to the addresses provided in this blog and letting the ABS and our politicians know how important the Census is to the property industry.
Cancelling the census = being on the wrong side of history. How will those people be remembered? They were the ones who destroyed not only an incredible source of information in order to save a few pennies, they destroyed an institution. We have conducted the Census every five years since 1961 and that continuity is irreplaceable.
The census is so important for so many reasons including planning services and facilities for our population. The majority of organisations and individuals that rely of this data already find the existing timeframe creates problems as you near the next census as the data could be up to 6 years old (release can take up to a year after the census is run). Could you imagine if you had to rely on data that was 10 years old!!! SAVE OUR CENSUS
Important for business and government planning, cutting it is short sighted and a false economy. Thank you .ID for the letter templates working on my letter now.
Hi Lucy, great to hear you are preparing your letters. There seems to be a head of steam building around this important issue.
The Five Year Census data is critical to allow for sound planning by the property investment and development industry to meet the demands of the evolving demographic landscape and remain competitive in the global environment.
Hi Phillip – we couldn’t agree more. We work with a number of property development companies who use the Census data every day. Please feel free to adapt the contents of our letter to express the concerns of your industry and send it on to the address in this blog.
As a property research professional and urban economist, I can only say that any decision to axe or seriously trim the census is the height of short sighted policy vandalism.
Rather than couching it as a cost and an administrative burden, it should be viewed in terms of the value add across pretty well every area of social and economic policy, planning and resource allocation in this country. The property and community sectors, in both private and public sectors, that I work with would be completely hamstrung with out it.
Myopic policy and spectaularly bad thinking.
Hi Michael, we couldn’t agree more. As Ivan wrote in the latest .id newsletter
Astonishingly, this is being considered at the same time that there are some important questions that need to be answered at this point in our social and economic history.
• How do we undertake the economic transition from mining boom to knowledge economy?
• How do we plan for and fund the infrastructure needed for that transition?
• How do we fund education and re skilling of the workforce?
• How do we provide excellent childcare?
• How do we resolve housing affordability?
• How do we address the ageing of the population?
• Should we continue to receive large numbers of migrants?
• How do we address issues of security and social cohesion within our communities?
It is a strange irony to acknowledge the need to transition to a ‘knowledge’ economy on the one hand, while proposing to abandon the singular most important evidence base that will enable us to get there.
Please feel free to adapt our letter for your industry and send it on to Canberra.
You guys need a Change.org petition!