The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP PRESS CONFERENCE
MURAL HALL, PARLIAMENT HOUSE
MONDAY, 10 AUGUST 2026
SUBJECTS: 2026 Census
ANDREW LEIGH: Good morning everyone. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, and the Assistant Minister responsible for the Australian Census. Tomorrow is Census Day, and the government is urging all Australians to fill in their Census. Collecting data through the Census is an important way in which you help not only your own household but also your community. The Census is used by the Australian Government, by state and territory governments and by local councils in order to allocate resources.
We use the Census for figuring out where to put bus routes and where to deploy new infrastructure. Businesses use the Census in figuring out where to open new stores, and community groups use the Census in seeking to better understand their local neighbourhoods. So filling out the Census is a generous act to those around you. We'd urge all Australians to take part.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ target Census completion rate is 100 per cent. They've been working hard across Australia with a network of some 30,000 Census officers aiming to increase response rates. In the last Census, 80 per cent of Australians filled out the Census online. In this Census, the ABS is anticipating 85 per cent filling out the Census online. If people need more information, they can go to census.gov.au to get more information or phone the helpline, 1800 181 227.
The ABS is familiar with many of the challenges that emerge. Working with prisons, with aged care centres, with people with disability – they've been distributing forms that are in large print and with braille. They understand the challenge of collecting data from the homeless population and the importance of getting the Census right so our national snapshot, conducted every five years, is as good a portrait of Australia as we can get. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Mr Leigh, as you said this year, 85 per cent of people are expected to fill out the Census online. That will be the highest rate of online participation yet. Have you sought assurances that we won't see another Census fail as it happened in 2016, or that the emergence of AI won't pose any new threats?
ANDREW LEIGH: The ABS learned significant lessons from the challenges that emerged in 2016 and implemented them in the 2021 Census. They continue to work very closely with our cybersecurity authorities and engage on a whole range of risk assessments. It is vital that the Census operates to that level of integrity. This is perhaps the largest peacetime logistics operation that the government engages in.
So yes, cyber security has been the forefront of my conversations with the ABS and the forefront of their work ensuring the Census is safe. I'd also urge people to consider filling out the Census early. If you know where you're going to be on Tuesday night, you can fill out the Census now. That helps take some pressure off the servers. Completing the Census is not only important to give back to the community, but also a fun way to have those conversations with those in those in your household.
JOURNALIST: You said it's the largest peacetime logistics operation. A case has been made that this costs almost $1 billion to run. There's a lot of existing data now that is available. Could we see over progressing years, the Census become less and less onerous or could this be the last big Census that we run?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, we'll always take advice from the Australian Bureau of Statistics about how we can collect the most data with the littlest imposition upon Australians. I commend the ABS on their work that they've done to reduce the real per person cost of collecting Census data. That's occurred through the leadership of Chief Statistician, David Gruen and his team at the ABS that have worked assiduously in order to bring down that real per person cost in this Census compared to the last one.
JOURNALIST: Obviously, there's been some issues raised about the religion question. You may have seen there was a campaign run advising people how to answer that question. Any concern the integrity of the Census has been undermined this year?
ANDREW LEIGH: The religion question hasn't changed. In broad terms, the religion question is the same as it was last time around. The standard religion question then lists options which are the top 10 religions from previous censuses. So we work very carefully with the ABS. The government sets the topics. The ABS sets the wording of the questions. So, the wording of the religion question is a matter for the ABS and they've essentially put to Australians the same wording that was in the 2021 Census.
JOURNALIST: But are you aware of that campaign, and do you have concerns about it?
ANDREW LEIGH: I'm aware of many campaigns that occur around the Census. I think it's a great thing that a lot of Australians are heavily invested in what are the topics in the Census and how the question is worded. But in the case of the religion question, I can assure Australians that it's essentially unchanged from the last Census.
Any other questions? Lovely. Alright, thanks everyone – really appreciate you coming out.
ENDS