The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO ILLAWARRA, MORNINGS WITH NICK RHEINBERGER
TUESDAY, 11 AUGUST 2026
SUBJECTS: 2026 Census
NICK RHEINBERGER: Well, it is Census night in Australia. You can fill out the Census beforehand. You don't have to do it this evening and sit around the table as long as you know exactly who's going to be in your house as of tonight. Do you have issues with filling it out? We certainly know that in 2026 there's a lot of distrust of certain government programs. Well, we're going to try and ease your mind a little bit with Dr Andrew Leigh, Member for Fenner, which covers Wreck Bay, and he's with us now here at ABC Illawarra. He is also the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury here at ABC Illawarra. Andrew Leigh, g'day!
ANDREW LEIGH: G'day Nick, how are you?
NICK RHEINBERGER: Not too bad. Look, it's fair to say a lot of people would remember 10 years ago where the Census essentially overloaded itself and didn't work on the night. How robust are the government IT systems this year?
ANDREW LEIGH: Yes, the federal government learned a lot from that Census disaster in 2016. And now the Australian Bureau of Statistics engages much more closely with our cyber security agencies. It's been an extensive topic of my discussions with the Bureau of Statistics over recent months in the lead-up to the Census. The Census has worked extensively, stress testing its systems and working to combat those cyber threats. They're more severe than ever, and so it is a real risk but the Australian Bureau of Statistics has done all they can in order to deal with the cyber security dangers.
NICK RHEINBERGER: How do you stress test something which is going to potentially get 10 million people online tonight?
ANDREW LEIGH: Yeah, I mean the Census is run off systems that are used at that scale in other contexts. There's other censuses around the world. There's ways of doing some of these sort of white hat hacking exercises in order to see whether the systems are up-to-scratch. No system is ever perfect, but the Australian Bureau of Statistics has put a huge amount of resources into making sure it goes smoothly. And so far we've seen some 3.6 million Australians fill out their Census. We're expecting about 85 per cent of Australians will fill it out online, up from 80 per cent last time. And then there's also a portion of people who'll fill it out using the paper forms.
NICK RHEINBERGER: 80 per cent to 86 per cent. So, we've actually got what more trust in the system?
ANDREW LEIGH: More people are doing it online and that means that the information is there quicker for the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That then matters for when they can turn around the first round results, Nick. They're able to bring out results more speedily the more data is locked into their systems on Census night.
NICK RHEINBERGER: Now, you are asking sensitive questions of people and I know, for instance, talking about sexuality and identification has been welcomed by some groups but it still does beg the question about the safety of your information and how secure that is. What would you tell people in those cases?
ANDREW LEIGH: There's strict privacy conditions that surround this and there's careful work that's done to make sure that no one is able to access that information and that security of the Census has been paramount since our first Census in 1911 in ensuring that people are able to give confidential answers. If people feel uncomfortable with those questions, there is a prefer not to answer question and of course they're only asked of over 16s.
NICK RHEINBERGER: Right. Okay. What if you're not home on Tuesday night? What happens?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, you will fill out the Census for where you are on Tuesday night. And so, if you're staying with a friend, then you'll fill out the Census in their home as part of that household. So, it's a snapshot of your location on Tuesday. Most people will fill it out tonight, but some people have already filled it out and some people will continue to fill it out in the coming days and that's fine, everyone will just be referring to what they were doing on Tuesday night.
NICK RHEINBERGER: What about if you're travelling – you're in a hotel or something like that? Do those places offer you a Census form?
ANDREW LEIGH: They certainly do. Yep. They'll pick you up there and that's all part of getting a snapshot as to how Australia was at any given moment. Last thing we want to do is double count you. We don't want to have your response at home and your response at the hotel, so we'll just get your response at the hotel. And the Australian Bureau of Statistics' approach is to capture prisons, aged care centres or people who are homeless.
NICK RHEINBERGER: What about submitting it late? Is that possible after midnight tonight?
ANDREW LEIGH: Yes, absolutely. Certainly people will do the Census in that mop up period. The preference of the Australian Bureau of Statistics is that people do the Census tonight. But if you're unable to, for some reason, just do it as quick as possible, get that data into the system. It's not just good for you, it's good for your community. Because this is used to allocate resources by federal, state and local governments across communities. So, getting a strong response rate from communities is you doing a favour to your neighbours when you fill out the Census.
NICK RHEINBERGER: Well, what is the mop up period? Does that mean you have the discretion to do things late if you have to and you won't get fined?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, the Census refers to a reminder and non-response follow-up phase, and so that's from 12 August to 14 September and then after that they move into what they call the closure phase from 14 September to 16 October.
NICK RHEINBERGER: Right, okay. When does a fine become applied?
ANDREW LEIGH: Our hope is that we don't have to apply fines.
NICK RHEINBERGER: Of course, yeah.
ANDREW LEIGH: The fines have been rare in the past, you haven't seen a lot of people fined. People do recognise that doing the Census is a generous act to your community and understand that it is one of the obligations of citizenship to fill in the Census. So, the fines are there as a backstop, but they're rarely used.
NICK RHEINBERGER: Yeah. I mean, I understand. I mean this does come from – in 2026 we have a lot of distrust, as I mentioned, in various government programs. What would you say to those people that are refusing to fill it out because they're suspicious?
ANDREW LEIGH: This information is held confidentially. It's used in order to support your community. If you don't fill out the Census then that can mean your community misses out on resources it's entitled to. It could mean that a bus route doesn't go past your house. It could mean that federal resources aren't directed that way. It could mean that your federal electorate isn't drawn the boundaries the way it should be because those boundaries are drawn based on the population data for the Census. The Census is used by businesses, non-profits and governments and filling it in is a civic duty.
NICK RHEINBERGER: And when will all that data be made available to the public? Or does that take many years for it all to be collated?
ANDREW LEIGH: We'll have some of the first results out in June 2027 and then there will be more detailed results following that. So, it takes a little bit less than a year for the ABS to turn around that data. Part of that is just collecting from the hard to reach populations and then part of it is collating the data, particularly getting it off the paper forms.
NICK RHEINBERGER: Alright Dr Andrew Leigh, great to talk to you today, thanks very much.
ANDREW LEIGH: Likewise, thanks Nick.
NICK RHEINBERGER: Andrew Leigh, the Member for Fenner which also covers Wreck Bay as part of his electorate, which takes in the ACT and of course Wreck Bay and parts of Jervis Bay – a part of the federal government electorate, as you might have heard from the ACT.
ENDS