Security
high rise public housing is being overlooked in the 2016 Australian Census.
Such as Redfern Sydney tenants who apparently often didn’t receive the anonymous Coded
letter addressed to each unit – (ie without their name). This means they probably
didn’t get information about how to request a Census form be posted to them –
with many not online at home.
These
letters may never have been sent to them or were stolen or disguarded (?) as
being just unaddressed junk mail. In addition, Census folk don’t seem to be
following up, prior to the September deadline – their hand-delivered Census
forms to tenants who hadn’t logged-on or rung up for a form in August.
One long
time public housing tenant felt that Census workers wouldn’t be allowed through
High-rise security – unless they already know someone in the high-rise
building. One female Census worker was seem in late August before 6pm in inner
city Sydney, crying in some distress that her partner wasn’t around to defend
her against someone who had just tried to rape her.
This whole
debacle was partly caused by the
negligence of the Federal government in cutting back funding for this Census – so
the ABS then cutback on staffing to deliver/collect the census forms all on one
night. There is also the increasing resistance to many people disclosing many
personal details on the Census form – now it is to be kept for 4 years.
A local
Government councillor (or employee) objected to how the Census was now going to
be used to track people throughout their lives – surely a gross breach of trust
from the Government ( he now refusing to fill in the Census form). The Census
has previously been only used to collect data, not help spy on where people
move to different addresses throughout their lives and other details that
should remain private.
The Census,
in addition, it also becoming less and less relevant for its supposed purpose
for data collection to help design services for different areas. Already Sydney
City Council’s “social plans” acknowledge that Aboriginal people usually avoid
filling in Census forms – due to their past treatment by Government agencies.
Now it seems that the ABS is now also failing to even include many low income
people in public housing (not to mention homeless).
Yet another
bungle by the Turncoat Government – though the ABS cutbacks were probably brought
in by the previous Abbort mini – Government. Either way, the Census is now
wildly seen as Big Brother exercise – that like Australia’s weird “compulsory”
voting, is being increasingly rejected by citizens who want their democracy
back.
Demand letters to residents from ABS in September - threatening large fines for them supposedly not filling out a census form , point them to a phone their phone number (which they answer with a recorded message saying it is too busy to answer). This situation was witnessed by Redfern Legal Centre, who are offering to help people fined in this exersize in an increasingly police state environment
