There is a bit of discussion going around about how the information asked for in the census is now going to be tied to ones name and address. The ABS says they have safeguards in place however its not really beyond the realms of impossibility to imagine the State using information gathered in the census against those it considers to be their enemy if that information is available at the ABS.

Has the census always required one's name and address along with all the other information?

They say the information is used to do stuff like best allocate resources to build hospitals, roads and schools. In my experience these sorts of assets are normally built for political reasons as witnessed by that Sophie Mirabella telling us if she was not elected to parliament the electorate could forget funding for a hospital. Not much census data helping this sort of decision is there?



If this data is so important for making decisions where resources are allocated, why do we even need MPs?