ABS: “never has and never will release identifiable Census data”

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)has said it never has and never will release identifiable Census data.

In a response to the Australian Financial Review article, “Census no longer anonymous”, published on 10 March 2016, the ABS said the claims made in the article are false.

In a statement from the ABS the agency head David Kalisch said “Names and addresses have always been collected in the Census, and the public has always willingly cooperated with this knowing their confidentiality is protected by legislation.”

“This will not change in the 2016 Census. What will change is the retention of names and addresses to make the Census even more valuable.”

“Names and addresses will be stored securely and separately from other Census data, and each other, and will never be recombined with other Census data.”