STAFF WRITER
Everyone is legally required to take part in the 2026 Census happening tonight, Tuesday, August 11.
It’s compulsory, and it’s enforceable under the Census and Statistics Act 1905.
Anyone who refuses to complete the census form or knowingly gives false information, can be fined up to $364 a day.
The only people exempt are foreign diplomats and their families.
That covers everyone else – citizens, permanent residents, temporary visa holders, international students, tourists. If you’re staying at a motel, caravan park or with family on the night, you still need to be counted at wherever you actually sleep.
There are up to 66 questions covering ancestry, religion, gender recorded at birth and how you got to work that day.
Who fills it out
Usually one person completes the form for the entire household. If you’d rather answer separately for privacy reasons, you can request your own form.
If someone who normally lives in your house will be elsewhere in Australia today, August 11 such as visiting family in Lismore, working away, they get marked as “away” on your household form, and they complete their own form wherever they’re spending the night.
If you’re overseas on census night, you don’t need to do anything, and your household shouldn’t list you.
How to do it
Most households received a letter with a census number and password for the online form.
Paper forms are still available on request – nobody is forced to fill out the form online.
It takes most people about half an hour.
What happens to your information
By law, the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) can’t hand your personal, identifiable information to any other agency – not Centrelink, not the ATO, not Home Affairs, not police.
Names are kept for up to 18 months, addresses for up to three years, then destroyed.
What it’s actually for
Census data shapes funding decisions for schools, roads, health services and housing – the kind of infrastructure calls that matter directly to communities like ours, where population and need don’t always show up clearly in the metrics governments use.
The last census was in 2021.
The data collected this year won’t be published until 2027, rolling out in three phases from June that year.
The questions you’ll be asked
To complete your census form you’ll need to know:
- who’ll spend the night in your household on census night, Tuesday, August 11
- who usually lives in your household but will be away on census night.
For everyone in your household on census night, you’ll need to know:
- name, sex recorded at birth, date of birth and age, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status
- current address and addresses for one year and five years ago
- marital status
- country of birth, citizenship, ancestry, religion, languages used, countries of birth of parents and year of arrival in Australia (if applicable)
- if they need assistance with self-care, body movement or communication activities
- if they have a long-term health condition
- education and qualifications (for people aged 15 years and older)
- work (paid and unpaid) and total personal income
- if they have served in the Australian Defence Force.
You’ll also be asked the following questions for everyone in your household aged 16 years and older. You can choose to select ‘prefer not to answer’ for these questions:
- gender
- sexual orientation.
There are questions about the dwelling itself, the number of registered motor vehicles at the dwelling and how much you spend on your rent or mortgage.
Need help?
Need help completing your form? The ABS has phone support and can arrange in-person assistance for anyone who needs it.
If you need help or a paper form, you can call the Census Contact Centre on 1800 181 227 or visit the ABS Census Help Page.