Article
Privacy and the postal plebiscite
Can the Australian Bureau of Statistics be trusted with voters’ data?
Publisher
Privacy
Plebiscite
Same-sex marriage
Australia
Resources
Description
On 9 August it was announced that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) would run a non-binding and voluntary postal survey on the issue of same-sex marriage.
The ABS will obtain information from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) so that they can send postal ballots to registered voters. The ABS is conducting the survey in absence of parliamentary approval for the AEC to administer the vote.
There are powers for the Australian Statistician to collect statistical information but there are questions about whether public views on same-sex marriage fall within this scope. This relates to the legal limits on the agency’s powers to collect information which will be considered in the upcoming High Court challenge.
Publication Details
Copyright:
Asia & the Pacific Policy Society 2017
Post date:
29 Aug 2017