What repercussions are there if I refuse to participate in the Census and fail to submit paperwork? Is there a fine and if so how much?. My girlfriend will want to participate, but I do not. I do not really see the point.
Hell no! There is a point!
This is a great and rich data source to help people plan and understand the nature of how we live. The census, while having some drawbacks, is gold! Pure gold.
As it is a public data source, yes people could use it for nefarious purposes. But mostly it is used by boring people, like me, who work in a government department (mapping is my game).
Often I lament my higher ups as they don't use the full power of the information at hand - there are many dimensions to the census and it is hard to quickly get across (managers often want a simple/quick answer, but life is complex)
For instance say you have $1 mill to spend on a facility. Do you put in a child care, aged care, sports ground or other type of facility? Thats what we use it for.
Where are the jobs? What type of jobs? Do you have a section of working poor? How is the household composition changing? Do you need more single parent services? How do people get to their jobs. How fast is an area growing? Is it sustainable?
The religion question is usually treated at a poles length anyway - too many people wont report correctly, if at all (Muslims and Jews are well known to under report for various reasons).
The resulting stats you get back are statistcally manipluated with a slight error factor built in. A census block generally equals around 200 households. It would be easy to find (and target) the household with the most income if they did not. Or to persecute the only Muslim/Jewish/Jedi household in the block.
It is illegal not to do your census, but like voting, it is difficult to pin down. Regard it as your civil duty - you are giving something priceless to help others help you
