Census night is coming up next Tuesday – here’s what to do
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will ask all Australians, residents and visitors to provide a bit of info about themselves on August 11.
Residents and visitors around the Murraylands and Australia will be asked to fill in a form next Tuesday night, August 11, for the national census.
Every five years, the Australian Bureau of Statistics asks everyone to provide some basic info about themselves, including their age, family background and whether they work or study.
The anonymous information goes into a national database which helps governments make decisions about how to allocate funding, how people should be represented in parliament and so on.
The census helps leaders, public servants and local news services better understand their communities.
Every household should receive a set of instructions by mail between now and census night.
ABS spokeswoman Emily Walter said people could fill in their census forms as soon as they received them, so long as they knew they would be at home next Tuesday night.
Anyone away from home that night should indicate as much on the census website, and fill in a form at the place where they will be staying if it is within Australia.
“Most households across Australia have started to receive census letters with instructions on how to complete their census, or how to order a paper form,” Ms Walter said.
“If you are yet to receive your instructions or would like to complete the census separately from the rest of your household, head to the census website to get a census number or request a paper form.”
Alternatively, you can call the help line at the bottom of this story or check in with ABS staff at Murray Bridge Marketplace this Thursday and Friday – though Murray Bridge News had trouble finding them on Wednesday afternoon.
More than 1.2 million Australians had already returned a census form by lunch time on Tuesday.
- Fill in the census: start.census.abs.gov.au.
- Get help: Visit info.census.abs.gov.au/help; call 1800 130 250; or talk to the census staff at Murray Bridge Marketplace from 10am-6pm on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday of this week.
- Read more: Five things this week’s census data tells us about Murray Bridge
