How relevant are our Census questions?

(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)

What languages are spoken?

And which faiths are followed?

Every five years, the Census takes a snapshot of an increasingly multicultural Australia.

Leading into the 2016 Census, the Australian Bureau of Statistics is conducting a review of certain questions, to ensure that they remain relevant to contemporary Australia.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says its review of census questions is also an opportunity to gauge interest in new questions.

Head of the 2016 Census program at the ABS, Duncan Young, says the last time questions were reviewed was in 2006.

Mr Young says it's important to update the data collated to best serve Australia.

One of the areas under consideration is ancestry.

"Questions on the country of birth of parents - we've asked questions around country of birth of parents for the last couple of censuses - but in the detail of the answer we only ask the respondent to specify whether or not the person was born, the parent was born in Australia or overseas, one of our considerations we have got it is whether or not we expand that question and actually ask for the specific country of birth of the parent."

Demographer, Bernard Salt, says it's very important for Australia to understand the cultural and ethnic composition of its people.

He says the question should be expanded for the 2016 Census.

"We are a high immigration nation and have been for sixty years, you could argue for 200 years. The Anglo base changed dramatically with the inclusion of Mediterranean influences and now we are seeing more Asian influences and I think by the end of this decade we will see more Arabic and Persian interests or influences on the Australian population. We need to know in terms of language, culture, lifestyle, food preferences, religious affiliation in order to best serve the needs of the fusion culture that is Australia's population. We need to understand not just where you were born but your cultural allegiance over time and that's where I think the ancestry question is important."

Another supporter of expanding the knowledge-base on ancestry is the chairman of the New South Wales Community Relations Commission.

Stepan Kerkyasharian wants the questions in the 2016 Census to go even further in delving into Australia's multicultural make-up.

"We have a number of communities I would regard as invisible if you only want on country of birth. Examples are the Sikhs, the Jews, the Kurds, the Armenians. If you look at country of birth - many of these people would be counted or identified as being Lebanese or Turkish or Indian or South African, so it is in fact misleading if we leave out the question of ancestry and language spoken."

The Head of the Census 2016 program says the ABS is conscious of eating up people's time, so it has to strike a balance between not asking for too much information and getting new data that is relevant to multicultural Australia.

Duncan Young says if new questions are added, some older questions need to be deleted.

He says one under consideration for axing is the number of cars in each household, because he says that data is now generally available through other means.

Demographer Bernard Salt acknowledges there is an expense attached to each question asked in the Census, and even more attached to the analysis of it afterwards.

However he points out that compared to the United States, Australia does very well.

"Well, as a demographer, I'd always like more questions, but I'm very cautious of over-stepping the mark. The Australian Census, hich is conducted very five years, has something like 60 questions. The American Census, which is conducted very ten years, has less than fifteen questions - so we are doing pretty well with the number of questions we have."

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says apart from ancestry and citizenship, other review topics for the 17th national Census in 2016 include asking about ccess to the internet, especially as technology evolves.

The Bureau also says new topics could include whether or not a second residence is owned, method of travel to educational institutions, and sources of income.

The aim is to better reflect the country's social and economic landscape, which the Community Relations Commission chairperson, Stepan Kerkyasharian says will better serve the bureaucrats, when they have to make decisions about the future.

"If the purpose of the Census is to get an understanding of the demography of the people - what their needs and aspirations are - so that the state and governments can adequately and appropriately provide for those, then ancestry and religion as well as language spoken are fundamental elements of the demographic picture."

Mr Kerkysharian says the public has until the end of May to submit their proposals to the ABS for improving the 2016 Census.

He is urging interested parties to become part of the public consultation phase, by going to the ABS website for more information.

Mr Young, from the ABS, endorses that view and says there is an increasing focus on the needs of multilingual and multicultural Australians.

"There continues to be a really strong interest in the ethnic and cultural origin of Australian citizens and how this has changed over time - so this is certainly an area where we want to make sure that we capture the information which is of most use to people who use that in decision making purposes."