A forecast by the Australian Bureau of Statistics that this year's census would see nearly two-thirds of households use the online form for data submission is proving to be wildly off the mark.
Chief statistician David Kalisch made the forecast on 1 August, eight days before the five-yearly population count was staged and went horribly wrong. The website was taken offline at 7.30pm, with claims of a distributed denial of service being the reason for the action.
No proof has yet been offered to substantiate this claim.
In his 1 August forecast, Kalisch said: "Excitingly, with up to 65% of households, or 16 million people, expected to complete the census online, the 2016 census could be Australia’s biggest ever online event."
{loadposition sam08}But on Monday, the ABS itself indicated that these expectations would not be met, with the head of the 2016 census, Duncan Young, saying that the organisation had received just two million more online forms in 2016 compared to 2011.
ABS chief statistician David Kalisch.
According to the ABS' own figures, a total of 2,706,051 households submitted online forms in 2011. The 2016 figure is two million more and that comes to less than five million online forms.
The ABS has said earlier that the total number of households in the country is 10 million. This means that online forms have been submitted by less than 50% of households.
Young has also raised the spectre of fines again. "The census is compulsory. If a person refuses to participate in the census, the Australian Statistician has the power under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 to direct them in writing to do so.
"In the rare case a person chooses not to follow this direction, the matter can be referred to the Director of Public Prosecution, at which point fines for non-compliance can be issued," he said.
On Monday, the Australian Labor Party caved in and backed the government in allowing the ABS to levy fines on those who submitted late or incorrect census forms due to the disaster that occurred on 9 August.