Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, it was remiss of me in my two previous speeches not to congratulate you on your elevation to Deputy Speaker. I know that you will do a wonderful job. Having worked with you in the past on committees, I know your dedication to this place.

According to the 2011 ABS census data, the electorate of Hindmarsh is a multiculturally diverse electorate with around 30 per cent of its population born overseas. It also has an ageing population, with nearly 20 per cent over the age of 65. That data was collected in 2011, which was the last census held in this nation. Who knows when the data from the 2016 census will be available and just how representative and accurate it will actually be, because the current census has had a series of bungles and errors and has been something akin to the Keystone Cops and Comedy Capers. It absolutely defies explanation. I do not think it is the fault of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and I commend their efforts to become a modern data collection agency and to move with the times. The effort to enable the online completion of the census forms is a good thing. It saves costs of an estimated $100 million. It also enables people who have access to a computer and the internet to complete the form quickly and easily. It also enables resources to be put toward reaching our more rural and remote communities, as well as the transient and homeless population.

However, there is no doubt that the transition was extremely poorly planned, poorly resourced and poorly executed. It is safe to say that this has been the worst run census in Australia's history and one of the worst IT debacles Australia has ever seen. Let us recap on what happened, at least according to the feedback from within my electorate office. This also mirrors what other MPs have said to me. People started receiving their census letters, on average, around one week before the census date. Until then there had been very little preparation or advance warning that the census would be conducted in a new way this year.

On the first day I moved into my new electorate office on 29 July I was absolutely inundated with calls about the census, especially from elderly residents who did not have access to a computer and non-English-speaking residents in my electorate who did not have computer access. People were absolutely confused and did not understand how to request the paper census form. They rang the number provided and either got no answer or just an answering service with nothing else. They were worried that they would get fined. They were extremely worried.