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Australians are supporting and participating in the Census in a really strong and positive way. We are well in flight now for creating that comprehensive picture of the nation. We announced yesterday we had received our eight millionth household form. That means two thirds of Australia has already responded to the Census, but it's certainly not too late and we are committed to making sure everybody is counted.

So there's still plenty of time to complete the Census. We just asked people to do it as soon as they can. After this week, we will start looking at which households across Australia we haven't heard from.

We'll send some reminder letters out. Our field staff will start visiting you, but it's certainly not too late. You can jump online now at census.abs.gov.au with or without your letter to complete the Census. Or of course, please contact us on 1800 181 227 if you'd prefer a paper form be sent to you in the post.

So we have a range of tools available to help people participate in the Census. The best place to go is our website at census.abs.gov.au. We also have a contact centre who's happy to take your call and talk you through whatever help you need. Our website has a really useful chatbot named Claire, who can provide you some insights and guidance on what you need to do to complete the Census.

And of course, if you need help in a language other than English, we have a range of translated material available and a phone number you can call. Just go to our website and get all the information that you need. People should not be worried about receiving a fine.

Our goal at the moment is to make sure everyone is counted. So the ABS' job right now is to make sure that everyone has a chance to participate in the Census and gets the help they need. Fines is not something we're aiming for. We are aiming for a high level of response. We worry about fines down the track if we need to, but right now we just want you all to be counted.

The Census form has 66 questions that capture a range of really important data for the nation. So questions on our cultural diversity, on our education, our employment, long term health conditions, even questions about how you travel to work. All of those data points go into making a comprehensive data set that feeds lots of decisions. Decisions by government at all levels. Decisions by community groups. The Census is really designed to help us understand what services we need.

People should be careful whenever they're providing personal details to anybody. If somebody knocks at your door claiming to be a Census Field Officer, ask to see their identification card.

They will all be carrying identification. If you're navigating and completing your Census online, please make sure you're doing that at our website, census.abs.gov.au.

The ABS will never ask for personal information such as your bank account details or your tax file number, or offer any gifts if you complete the Census. So please always be careful and if you're not sure, give us a call.

Our goal right now is to make sure we get the most complete picture of the nation we can. It takes us a few months to bring all of those forms back into the ABS, to look at every answer on the form and turn that into high quality statistics that we will release in June next year.

So June 2027, it might sound like a long time away, but Australia is a really big country. It takes us quite a while to bring in every paper form from every part of remote Australia. Lots of work ahead of us, but June next year is when we'll release that picture of the nation.

So at the end of this week, we'll start looking at the households across Australia who haven't completed their Census form. Our Census field staff will start following up households that have not yet submitted their form. If you just haven't found time this week, and if you're able to complete the Census by yourself, please jump online and do that over the next couple of days.

It'd be much better if our field staff are out there giving support to the people who really need extra help, but if you're okay to fill it in on your own, please just jump online and do it.

I'm Jenny Telford, the general manager of the Census and Population Division at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Tuesday, 11th of August is Census night here in Australia.

We know many millions of households have already completed their Census form already. But if you haven't, there's still plenty of time. We expect Census night to be our peak in terms of the number of responses will receive from Australians. So if you've got your letter, you know how to get online really easily or request a paper form. And if you don't have a letter, you can still jump online to census.abs.gov.au and complete your form now.

So the Census can be completed anytime over the next few days. So if you haven't received your material from the ABS, please don't worry, there's still plenty of time to complete the Census.

If you're worried, please give us a call on 1800 181 227. We can talk you through how to complete the Census online now. Or we can send you a paper form. There's still plenty of time to complete the Census. All we ask is that you take a moment on Tuesday night, look around and see who's in your household, because they're the people that will need to be listed on your Census form.

So we really want to make sure that everyone in Australia on Tuesday night is able to participate in the Census. So if you do need help, please reach out to us. The easiest place to go is our website at census.abs.gov.au.

Or you can give us a call on 1800 181 227. We also have a number of Pop-up hubs running around the country in shopping centres and in public libraries. Jump online to our website and you can find out where those Pop-up hubs are. And then you'll be able to speak to somebody to get some assistance. If you do need assistance completing the Census in a language other than English, there's some phone numbers and some translated materials on our website.

And if you have a disability of any sort, there's also lots of material available to give you the help you need.

So the Census gives us a snapshot of who we are today and how we're changing over time.

We ask 66 questions on the Census form to give us data across a range of different areas, such as cultural diversity, employment, education, long term health conditions, even information such as where you live, where you work, and how you travel to work on Census day. All of that data comes together in incredibly rich data set that helps inform decisions across a whole bunch of different areas.

So governments of all levels use Census data to inform policy and service delivery choices. Community organisations use Census data to understand their community and understand how their needs maybe changing over time. So Census data is a really unique picture of Australia that informs so many critical things across our country.

So the Census is every five years because our population change doesn't happen overnight. It takes a little bit of time. So every five years is kind of frequent enough for us to see how things are changing over time. It's also a really large logistical exercise, as you can imagine. So planning a Census for the ABS takes seven years, so it's not something we would be able to run every year.

We do have data set that informs how our population numbers are changing more frequently, but a Census and that comprehensive snapshot of Australia for every five years is sufficient to inform all of those critical decisions.

So we at the ABS understand how important it is to keep your data safe. We build privacy and security into every aspect of our preparations.

From the systems we build to the processes we design. Everything is done in a way that protects your individual response. Here at the ABS, we have legal obligations to keep your data safe. We will never release data in a way that could identify you or your household. We've got a great history of keeping data safe and we are absolutely committed to maintaining that.

So the Census website and our online form have both been tested to really high performance levels. We anticipate Census night to be a very busy night for Australians completing their Census forms. We could see up to a million or over a million forms an hour coming through to the ABS. We have thoroughly tested the systems to ensure not only can they cope with that anticipated traffic, but they can cope with even more if we need to.

We will be monitoring very closely at the ABS. We will be doing everything we can to make sure that system is working well on Census night, and our number one priority will be to keep your data safe.

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