Mr SWAN (11:22 AM) —I welcome the opportunity to address the provisions contained in the Census Information Legislation Amendment Bill 2005. This is a non-controversial bill and Labor will be supporting it. As detailed in the memorandum to the bill, its main purpose is to codify the circumstances that name-identified information collected in the 2006 census and in all subsequent censuses will be stored by the National Archives of Australia. The five-yearly census of population and housing is the largest statistical collection undertaken by the ABS. Its purpose is to accurately measure the number of persons in Australia on census night, their key characteristics and the dwellings in which they live.

The 2006 census will take place on 8 August 2006. The census provides a range of information which is vital for effective planning by governments, community organisations and the business sector. At the last census in 2001, legislation was implemented which provided for the retention of census data. The legislation followed the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs report Saving our census and preserving our history that recommended retaining name-identified census information for future research with appropriate safeguards.

The bill we are debating today outlines the circumstances where name-identified information may be kept and when it may be eventually released. The bill sets out that name-identified information will only be retained for those households which provide explicit consent. The information will only be released after a closed access period of 99 years. These measures extend into the future similar provisions which were put in place for the 2001 census. Prior to the 2001 census, all name-identified information from past censuses has been destroyed once processing was completed. For privacy reasons and to encourage households to consent, that name-identified information should not be available for any purpose within a 99-year closed access period, including access by a court or tribunal or other government agencies. This closed access period of 99 years contained in this bill is much longer than the usual 30 years for most archived material. This bill also makes some consequential amendments to the Census and Statistics Act 1905. Labor supports these measures.