2026 Census Employment Collection Notice

This Collection Notice explains the collection of personal information for applicants and employees on short-term employment contracts employed under the Census and Statistics Regulation 2016 for the purposes of the 2026 Census.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) collects personal information for different purposes. The ABS Recruitment Privacy Statement and ABS Privacy Policies provide more details about how personal information is collected, handled, and protected. These are available on the ABS website at www.abs.gov.au/privacy.

Your personal information is being collected by the ABS and specific contracted and sub-contracted third-party providers. Further information on third-party providers and their collection of personal information is provided below.

The ABS collects personal information when you submit an expression of interest or application for a temporary Census field role. Your personal information will also be collected via other third-party providers for the purposes of assessing your suitability and eligibility for employment and, if you accept a role, employing you and managing your employment.

The ABS and third-party providers collect and hold different kinds of personal information to assess your suitability and eligibility for employment and, if you accept a role, manage your employment. Personal information collected may include: 

• general contact and identification details (e.g. name, current and previous addresses from the past 5 years, email address, phone number, date of birth, documents to establish your proof of identity)
• bank account, tax file number and superannuation details
• contact details of your nominated employment referees and emergency contact
• information about your education and work history, qualifications and skills, and eligibility to work in Australia
• sensitive personal information, such as information about your medical history or specific disability or condition, criminal record and racial or ethnic origin
• information about your location in real time to provide support and ensure safety
• drivers’ licence and motor vehicle details, including registration and insurance to facilitate payment of allowances
• health information where there is an accident or incident in the workplace
• information about your device and network

When apps and browsers are used online, we may also collect information supplied by your browser. For more information refer to the Disclaimer and copyright.

We collect personal information to hire and manage the Census field workforce. We use personal information for the following activities: 

Personal information is used to verify identity and employment history, assess ability, suitability and eligibility to work on the Census, onboard successful applicants as ABS employees, and to monitor the progress and outcomes of our recruitment activity.

We use personal and financial information such as date of birth, bank account, drivers’ licence, motor vehicle registration and insurance details, superannuation and tax file number to pay salaries, allowances and other payments.

We use name, phone number, and email address to communicate with Census field employees to resolve enquiries about pay and reimbursement. We use email address and postal address to send pay slips to Census field employees. 

We use limited personal information such as name, contact details, location, and role information to provide training. We also keep a record of your completed training record. 

We use name, phone number, email address, and residential address to allocate, support and monitor field work and to communicate with Census field employees. We use postal address to mail the materials to Census field employees that are required for their role. We use network and device information when employees access workload management systems, to support security, troubleshoot issues, and improve performance and usability.

We use phone number, address and location when you check in and out of work to help ensure employee safety while undertaking field work. We also use information about your location in real time to provide support and ensure safety. We use emergency contact details if we are unable to contact you and are concerned for your safety, and in other emergency situations.

During your employment we will seek feedback from you via employee surveys.

Where you have opted in to receive communication from the ABS about employment opportunities and insights, and Census related activities, we may use your contact information to contact you in the future for these purposes. 

Personal information collected in relation to the recruitment and employment of the Census field workforce will be retained and deleted in accordance with the relevant National Archives of Australia Record Authorities issued under the Archives Act 1983, including, but not limited to ABS Records Authority and AFDA Express V2.

Protection of personal information by contracted third-party providers must meet the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 and Australian Privacy Principles. Third-party providers (except for Humanforce Talent where you have an active candidate profile) will destroy or return all personal information to the ABS once the 2026 Census is completed.

Personal and sensitive information used and handled by the ABS is stored in secure ABS environments, in the AWS and Azure cloud in Australia. The ABS maintains restricted access to relevant authorised ABS staff and manages information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988, the Australian Privacy Principles and other relevant legislation.  The secure ABS environment meets all Australian Government privacy and security requirements.

If we did not collect your personal information, we would not be able to process your application, employ you, pay you, manage field work or meet our work health and safety responsibilities. 

We share relevant personal information with contracted third-party providers responsible for recruitment, or for employment-related activities such as the payment of salaries, allowances and other payments. We also use contracted third party providers to provide ICT and other services to support our activities. We may also share relevant personal information with third-party providers for the purpose of paying superannuation and in relation to compensation and rehabilitation in the event of injury.

When required or authorised by law to do so, the ABS may provide personal information to other entities including Government agencies, superannuation companies and law enforcement agencies.

Contracted third-party providers are legally bound to meet privacy standards and our expectations. They also have their own privacy policies, processes and security protections which we review to ensure their approach to privacy reflects our own. We have contracted with the following third-party providers to support the Census field workforce recruitment and operations:

Humanforce Holdings Pty Ltd is a candidate and talent management provider and supplier of the Humanforce Talent platform used by ABS to manage recruitment activity.  Please see the Humanforce Privacy Policy here – Privacy Policy|Humanforce.

Humanforce has subcontracted Checkmate Technology Pty Ltd (Checkmate) to provide reference checking through candidate nominated referees and to facilitate criminal history background checks using the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC). Please see the Checkmate privacy policy here - Privacy Policy|Checkmate.

Humanforce also provide the LiveOnboard platform in the Humanforce Talent suite, which is used by the ABS for management of recruitment. Onboard Express is a parent company of LiveOnboard.  Please see the LiveOnboard/Onboard Express privacy policy here - Privacy Policy|Onboard Express.

EPI-USE Australia is a human resources and payroll provider used by the ABS to manage the payroll Systems, Applications and Products (SAP) system and processes. EPI-USE Australia will also provide first level help desk support for both the payroll solution and payroll enquiries. See their privacy policy here -  Privacy Policy|EPI-USE.

Androgogic is a learning management platform provider. The ABS is the data controller and Androgogic is the data storage system. Please see the Androgogic privacy policy here - Privacy Policy|Androgogic.

CriticalArc (SafeZone) is a provider of a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) based technology to support Census field staff safety requirements. Please see the SafeZone privacy policy here - Privacy Policy|Critical Arc.

SwiftDigital is an Australian based email distribution service. The ABS is the data controller and SwiftDigital is the data storage system. See their privacy policy here - Website Privacy Policy|Swift Digital.

National Mail and Marketing is a warehousing, mail fulfilment and digital printing provider engaged by the ABS to dispatch role-required material to employees. Please see their privacy policy here - Privacy Policy|National Mailing & Marketing.

Microsoft Entra ID and Intune are used by the ABS to authenticate users, manage secure access to systems and administer device and application management. Data may be backed up using AvePoint. For details, see the Privacy Statement|Microsoft.

Dynatrace is a software intelligence platform used by the ABS to monitor and optimize application performance, infrastructure, and user experience across digital services. Please see their privacy policy here – Privacy Policy|Dynatrace.

We collect personal information, so that we can employ, pay and manage staff to help us run the Census. This information is collected under authority of the:

• Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975
• Census and Statistics Act 1905
• Fair Work Act 2009
• Taxation Administration Act 1953
• Superannuation Guarantee (Administrative) Act 1992
• Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

The ABS will not disclose your personal information overseas. When personal information used to help run the Census is stored in the cloud, it is kept in Australia. 

Some third-party providers may disclose personal information overseas. Please refer to the individual third-party policies for further information.

During the candidate process, applicants can correct or update personal information in Humanforce Talent. Please contact Humanforce or Checkmate directly via their contact details (available on their websites). Further information is available in their privacy policies.

ABS employees can update their personal information and other employment-related details through self-service options such as the EPI-USE Australia platform or by calling the Census field staff support lines provided to ABS employees.  

If you are a previous ABS employee, you can contact the ABS to update your contact details or opt out of future communications via ABS General Enquiries.

The ABS Privacy Policies have information about how you can complain if you feel we have not adequately protected your privacy. The policies describe how we will respond to your complaint and what you can do if you are not satisfied with our response. 

You can contact the ABS Privacy Officer (details below) who will respond to your enquiries or assist with complaints.

By email: privacy@abs.gov.au
By post: ABS Privacy Officer, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Locked Bag 10, Belconnen ACT 2616