On January 10 this year, “The Australian” newspaper published details (page 9) about the intrusive powers of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). It appears an ABS representative called on an Australian couple, barely returned from overseas, demanding to know why they had not responded to an ABS letter and telephone calls. He told them to enter more information on an ABS form saying he would return to ask questions about their income tax, investments, council rates, insurance, mortgage details and so on. Two weeks later, the couple were visited by another ABS representative wanting to know their birth dates and citizenship status. It seems all this personal and financial information had to be disclosed to the ABS representatives under the random selection process of the Survey of Income and Housing 2011-2012.
Now, whatever the reasons for the ABS to act in this way, we should be aware that surveys deriving from the census may be used for bad purposes as well as good. In the same article, “The Australian” (10/1/12, p.9), notes that the US government checked Japanese names in the census (an illegal act under the US Constitution) in order to intern American-Japanese citizens during World War II. Immediately on invading the Netherlands in 1940, the Nazis simply referred to the census to find Jews who, as good Dutch citizens, had filled in personal details such as “Religion”: thousands of Dutch Jews were quickly rounded up and sent to the death camps.
If this suggests an over-reaction, I merely note that a legal census may not be used always for good purposes. Armed with powers attached to the census, Australian bureaucrats may act on a “survey” – for instance, the Survey of Income and Housing mentioned above in this letter – to extract further personal information when, indeed, many government departments already hold details of such information.
What, then, is the purpose of the ABS in this matter – other than permit its representatives to bully those selected by survey to endure such behaviour?
Dr Paul Fidlon,
Armidale
