Australian Bureau of Statistics plan to avoid census fail of 2016

AUSTRALIA’S Bureau of Statistics will work with the nation’s top spooks to build a new online census from scratch for 2021 to avoid a repeat of the so-called “census fail” two years ago.

EXCLUSIVE: Australia’s Bureau of Statistics will work with the nation’s top spooks to build a new online census from scratch for 2021 to avoid a repeat of the so-called “census fail” two years ago.

The ABS, which has previously noted it “stuffed up some things” in the 2016 census rollout, will work with one of the nation’s lesser known intelligence agencies, the Australian Signals Directorate, and a private company to build the new “secure, trusted and simple” website for the next national survey in three years’ time.

A tender document reveals the ABS is calling for a company with a “high degree of expertise” to build and run the website, which will use cloud hosting technology and be available on mobile phones or a desktop computer.

It also shows the ABS expects the online platform to be the “default” and “most convenient channel for the public to participate” on census night, rather than paper-based forms.

RELATED: Census bosses not bothered about cyber attacks pre website fail

Annette Densham was one of many Australians who had troubles completing the Census online back in 2016. Picture: Jono Searle

Millions of Australians were unable to complete their forms online on census night in 2016 due to cyber attacks known as distributed denial of service attacks that forced the ABS to shut down its census website for two days.

It’s estimated the debacle blew out the costs of the 2016 census by $30 million.

Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert, the federal minister overseeing the census, told News Corp Australia he will be demanding regular updates from the ABS on all aspects of planning for the next national survey, including the implementation of recommendations from the Alistair MacGibbon review of the 2016 census.

“The Government expects the 2021 census will provide Australians with the ability to participate through a method of their choosing, including through accessible digital and paper based options, and that the information provided will at all times be secure,” he said.

A screengrab of the Census website failing.

Another Australian's failed attempt.

Australian Census website’s outage apology.

Mr Robert added that he expected the ABS to work with other agencies, including the Digital Transformation Agency and the ASD, to “provide confidence that they are able to establish a secure and resilient digital solution”.

A spokesman for Mr Robert confirmed the ABS had consulted with the ASD for the 2016 census but said the bureau was “actively collaborating” with the intelligence agency “much earlier in the design and development of the 2021 census”.

Malcolm Turnbull's tweet on Census night. Within an hour the Census website had crashed due to an overseas DoS attack.

ABS Chief Statistician David Kalisch noted in a speech in 2016 that the ABS “stuffed up some things” in the rollout of the 2016 census and that the agency intended to learn from the experience for the next national survey.

An ABS spokesman told News Corp new websites had been developed for each census since 2006 to account for higher volumes of traffic each time.

The first three online censuses were run via digital platforms developed by computer giant IBM, which is believed to have paid the Commonwealth millions in compensation over the 2016 census issues but the confidential sum has never been disclosed.

The ABS spokesman said the bureau had approached the market this week to “engage an experienced supplier to provide the Census Digital Service” for the next survey.

Asked whether the ABS would use the website for the 2021 census for the next survey, he said: “Any decision about future Census technology will consider the outcomes of the 2021 Census.”

He added that cloud infrastructure for the new website was more resilient, could be scaled to meet demand, had less maintenance and operating costs, and automatic monitoring.

Cloud services for the new website will be accredited to government standards and hosted in Australia.

Despite the website outage during the 2016 census, the ABS says that the increased number of Australians using online form saved taxpayers more than $100 million.

More than 60 per cent of respondents filed their forms online that year despite the problems, an increase from the 37.9 per cent in 2011.

Originally published as Australian Bureau of Statistics plan to avoid census fail of 2016