Privacy
The Census and Statistics Act 1905 and Privacy Act 1988 guarantee that no personally-identifiable information is released from the ABS to other government organisations, or the public. However the ABS makes confidentialised census data available to researchers, who must make various legal commitments before being given access.
In the 1970s there was public debate about privacy and the census. In 1979 the Law Reform Commission reported on Privacy and the Census. One of the key elements under question was the inclusion of names. It was found that excluding names reduced the accuracy of the data; individuals were more likely to leave questions blank and post-enumeration surveys would not be possible.
Read more about this topic: Census In Australia
Famous quotes containing the word privacy:
“The privacy of reading frees us to entertain the alien.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“There is a privacy I love in this snowy night.
Driving around, I will waste more time.”
—Robert Bly (b. 1926)