Thank you Senator Kemp. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentleman, it is my great pleasure to be here this morning with my parliamentary colleague to launch the awareness campaign for the 2006 Census Time Capsule Project.
Up until the 2001 Census, for a period of almost 100 years of census-taking in Australia, all name and address-identified information was destroyed once the data processing had been completed.
Unfortunately we can’t open a vault today and see details about how every individual ordinary Australian lived their lives in the early 1900s. It’s a gap in our historical records and one that is felt very much by the large number of people in Australia who are trying to put together their family history or trace their family tree.
In the United Kingdom, the story is quite different and as of April this year, all censuses taken from 1841 through to 1901 are searchable online. This resource features a total of about 165 million names and is a virtual mother lode of research information for family historians.
In the twenty-first century, Australia is now setting things in place so that our descendents, living in the next century, won’t have to grapple with a huge gap in Australian history.
The 2006 Census will be the second census where we all have the opportunity to make our mark in history through being part of the Census Time Capsule Project. In 2005 the Federal Government decided to make the 'Time Capsule' a permanent but voluntary feature of the Census following its introduction in 2001.
In the 2001 Census, 52.7 per cent of Australians, or just under 10 million people, chose to be part of the Census Time Capsule Project. I hope that in 2006 we can raise that number substantially.
According to leading genealogists, when the time capsule information from the 2001 Census is released in the year 2100, it will give families a much clearer picture of their forebears, who they were and how they lived at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
As Senator Kemp has indicated, interest in family history in Australia is widespread throughout the community. It has become even more popular with continued uptake of the Internet. The latest ABS figures show that at the end of March 2005 there were 689 Internet Service Providers supplying Internet access to 5.98 million active subscribers across Australia.
The great appeal of this Census Time Capsule Project is that it provides ordinary Australians, from all walks of life, a chance to avail themselves of a world class census run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and the world class facilities of the National Archives of Australia, in order to preserve their personal details for future reference.
What a chance! What an opportunity! I will certainly be opting in on the eighth of August and invite all Australians to join me. Collectively we will make a valuable contribution to preserving Australia’s history for future generations and give future researchers, genealogists and historians a complete picture of our nation as we are in 2006.
I want to emphasise that the information that is placed in the 2006 Census Time Capsule, and archived by the National Archives of Australia, will not be available for any purpose, including to courts and tribunals, within the ninety-nine year closed-access period.
You can make history with complete confidence by answering “Yes, agrees” to the Census Time Capsule question, which is the last one on the census form.
If you answer "Yes, agrees" then your name-identified census information will be preserved by the National Archives until 2105.
If you leave the question blank, or answer, "No, does not agree" then all forms and computer records capable of name-identifying you will be destroyed after the census statistical processing has been completed.
Parents and guardians who complete the census form on behalf of children can complete this question for them.
However, I hope that older children and teenagers will be involved in household discussions on this issue and that their views would be taken into consideration.
If a person’s views are not known then the answer to the question concerning the census time capsule should be left blank. For people who are legally unable to make a choice, their legal guardians can answer on their behalf.
When the processing and microfilming have been completed and the census forms are no longer needed, all the paper forms will be pulped and turned into recycled paper and cardboard. All the forms submitted via the Internet, and the computer images of the census forms used during processing and microfilming, will also be destroyed.
In the event you choose not to be part of the time capsule, you will of course still be required to complete the Census form as required by the Census and Statistics Act. In its aggregate form, Census data is vital to effective, ongoing decision making in practically all areas of our society.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has done a fine job for the past 100 years in collecting and presenting statistical information about Australia, and the Census, held every five years, is a major part of that work.
The Census Time Capsule information will be collected on Census Night, the eighth of August, 2006 and will be available to the public on the eighth of August, 2105. Upon the release of the data, all contents of the Census Time Capsule will be available to the Australian public.
The Government is committed to this project and has provided for the 2006 Census Time Capsule approximately $18 million dollars over a five-year period to cover the costs.
I commend the Census Time Capsule Project to all Australians and urge them to take the opportunity on Census Night this year to really make history. Thank you.