Kalisch said he had spoken to Xenophon and had explained to him how the ABS would protect and use the census data it collects. The independent senator Nick Xenophon says he will refuse to include his name on his census form on Tuesday, knowing he could be prosecuted for it, because he is not convinced the national census does not present a huge privacy risk. He also says the ABS does not have the authority to collect peoples’ names in the 2016 census on a compulsory basis, despite what it has been telling the public. McCormack said he hoped the briefing had encouraged Xenophon to change his mind, and he urged Australians not to follow Xenophon’s lead. “I will contest any such notice and, by doing so, I will in effect turn it into a test case for the ability of this request.

Source: The Guardian August 08, 2016 09:22 UTC