WA Privacy Laws Against Census Invading Privacy?

[BenWA1234]

Census is threatening me with fines, etc. I am dead set against completing the census. It's an invasion of my privacy. And I'm sure my information is not safe with them. Surely there are privacy laws against this, yeah?

 

[Iamthelaw]

It may be an offence pursuant to s14 of the Census and Statistics Act (Cth).

Although it is a defence to refuse to complete it on the grounds of religious beliefs, however, you must supply evidence of this.

 

[Tim W]

Census is threatening me with fines, etc

The choice is (was) yours.

I am dead set against completing the census. It's an invasion of my privacy.

No, as a matter of law, it isn't.

And I'm sure my information is not safe with them. Surely there are privacy laws against this, yeah?

I used to work at the ABS. They guard their raw data hard.
And once processed and published, in its aggregated and systemically anonymised form,
ABS material is not much use to law enforcement and regulatory bodies
who are looking to spike individuals.

What do you mean by "safe"?
They were the victim of a DDOS attack in August 2016.
But that's like blaming the tellers for when somebody robs a bank.
In terms if misuse of data, you have much more to worry about
from all the commercial data collectors and consumers
to whom you have not only supplied personal information,
but to whom you have also given permission to trade in it.

What makes you so special that, out of however-many million Australians,
anybody, let alone Government at the institutional level,
would be interested in you?

 

[Rod]

The collection of data is important as it allows the government to plan for hospitals, schools, roads and services such as electricity, sewerage, water. And generally they do a reasonable job of it. We might complain about government services but compared to most other countries we have a government that does a fair job at providing these services.