Ms SACILOTTO - 2006-02-15
You were involved in today’s launch of Census 2006. Could you please inform the House about this year’s census and its significance to the Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Port Darwin for her important question. Census 2006 will happen on 8 August this year. There is no doubt that taking the census is a real challenge in the Northern Territory. It is probably more challenging than any other part of the country. It is very difficult to get an accurate count of our population, even though it might be the smallest of any jurisdiction in Australia, it is tricky. One of the reasons is our remote communities, another is our very mobile population.
At the launch this morning, the Administrator, in his speech, indicated some of the hazards of doing the count in the Territory. There are rivers to cross, and one of the things that was particularly focused on was some of the animals to avoid. It is a bit like being a politician and doorknocking. He was giving an indication of the issues that census collectors had to deal with, ranging from pigs to goats to cane toads.
Eleven hundred people are needed to carry out the census. They were formerly employed by the ABS to do that and will be needed again this year. As the census is so important to the Territory to get an accurate count of our population, government is working very closely in partnership with the ABS. We have secondments happening from our public service to the ABS over the next few months to assist with that census.
This morning, I am encouraging Territorians to get involved whether you work in government, local government or in the communities in this five-yearly census. Why? Because the census forms the basis of our GST funding from Canberra. It really is important that we get it right and we count every Territorian. Every Territorian in that funding is worth $8500 per person, and those funds go towards doctors, nurses, teachers, roads and everything we do. If we do not count 120 Territorians, that is $1m. Multiply that by five, it is $5m. That is then out of our budget for that time. Therefore, it is very important to get this count right.
I am pleased with the partnership we have with ABS, and pleased that we are going to give it the best shot we can to count every single Territorian on 8 August.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Port Darwin for her important question. Census 2006 will happen on 8 August this year. There is no doubt that taking the census is a real challenge in the Northern Territory. It is probably more challenging than any other part of the country. It is very difficult to get an accurate count of our population, even though it might be the smallest of any jurisdiction in Australia, it is tricky. One of the reasons is our remote communities, another is our very mobile population.
At the launch this morning, the Administrator, in his speech, indicated some of the hazards of doing the count in the Territory. There are rivers to cross, and one of the things that was particularly focused on was some of the animals to avoid. It is a bit like being a politician and doorknocking. He was giving an indication of the issues that census collectors had to deal with, ranging from pigs to goats to cane toads.
Eleven hundred people are needed to carry out the census. They were formerly employed by the ABS to do that and will be needed again this year. As the census is so important to the Territory to get an accurate count of our population, government is working very closely in partnership with the ABS. We have secondments happening from our public service to the ABS over the next few months to assist with that census.
This morning, I am encouraging Territorians to get involved whether you work in government, local government or in the communities in this five-yearly census. Why? Because the census forms the basis of our GST funding from Canberra. It really is important that we get it right and we count every Territorian. Every Territorian in that funding is worth $8500 per person, and those funds go towards doctors, nurses, teachers, roads and everything we do. If we do not count 120 Territorians, that is $1m. Multiply that by five, it is $5m. That is then out of our budget for that time. Therefore, it is very important to get this count right.
I am pleased with the partnership we have with ABS, and pleased that we are going to give it the best shot we can to count every single Territorian on 8 August.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016