00:02It is a fantastic moment for us all to reflect on who we are and where and how we live
00:10right
00:11the way across Australia, from the capital cities to the regional areas to the most rural
00:17and remote places across this land.
00:21And I mean, you've done a pretty good job there, but if you could give us a very brief
00:24historical context or just an assessment of how important this is for the nation, what
00:28would you say to that?
00:29Look, I like to say that all roads lead to the census.
00:34And I think it's more than just roads, let me tell you.
00:37If there is a decision to be had in Australia, it generally relies on the informative data
00:45that comes from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the people's data by way of the census.
00:52So in terms of what we know about demographics, age, sex, other socioeconomic indicators and
01:02so on, it all comes from census.
01:05Every time you flush your toilet, you wash your hands, you hop on a bus, you get on a road.
01:12All of this is informed by the census.
01:15Good census means good policy.
01:18And the census changes in terms of its questions.
01:21There have been changes this time around.
01:23Ancestry has been expanded.
01:25Gendered language is more inclusive.
01:26Tell us about what we will see on there.
01:28So in addition to what you've just nicely mentioned, is the most progressive census Australia has
01:36ever seen yet.
01:38So the two new additions to the census are the question of gender, not to be confused
01:45with sex, because sex is still there.
01:47Sex recorded at birth is still there.
01:49So gender, that social embodiment of who we are, but also sexual orientation.
01:55What's important to note about these two new questions is that they are both only asked
02:00of people over 16 years.
02:02And they sit alongside religion as being the only questions on the census which are optional.
02:10That information from these two questions will give us vital information about service
02:16provision, and more importantly, it will lead to a better, higher quality family photograph
02:24of who we are.
02:26And a lot of effort is made to capture everyone, but I understand that you were missed in the
02:311996 census.
02:33Why was that, and how did that inform your career moving forward?
02:37I was mixed as a 16-year-old homeless person in the 1996 census.
02:44My circumstances meant that the way that homelessness information was captured at the time meant that
02:54I was not apparent in the data, in fact I wasn't in the population.
02:58Which is an incredibly disempowering feeling.
03:02When I learned about demography, I learned a superpower that came with understanding statistics and
03:10understanding how we can interpret this information to then create change.
03:16And more importantly, understand that our demographic characteristics need not be destiny.
03:23That policy levers can be pulled in ways to better support and grant greater opportunity and access
03:31to all people, no matter where they're born, no matter the circumstances of their lives.
03:38Since 2001, we've been able to opt in to our records being saved and released after 99 years, this
03:44census time capsule program.
03:46What are your thoughts on this?
03:47Do you opt in to that?
03:49I do opt in to that.
03:51Right.
03:51And we can look at the US example of when historians and family members go back and they start piecing
04:01together their family histories, we can see the power of the census, handwritten responses,
04:09the circumstances of the household, the relationships and so on.
04:15They are vital windows into helping us understand our current selves by understanding the trajectory
04:23of our families.
04:24So most definitely, if you're keen, I encourage you, you might feel scary and it's a good thing
04:31to be sceptical about data security and so on, but the ABS has not had a breach in its very
04:38long history.
04:38Thank you very much.
04:39Thank you very much.
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