The independent senator Nick Xenophon says he will refuse to include his name on his census form on Tuesday, knowing he could be prosecuted for it, because he is not convinced the national census does not present a huge privacy risk.
He says he is willing to make himself a test case to challenge the government's ability to prosecute Australians for withholding their name from the census and he has not changed his mind despite speaking to the chief statistician of the Bureau of Statistics.
"I understand that, by refusing to provide my name, I will be given a notice under the act to comply and the $180-a-day fine starts from then," Xenophon said on Monday. "I will contest any such notice and, by doing so, I will in effect turn it into a test case for the ability of this request.
"In the meantime, I will be seeking amendments to section 14 of the act so that a person cannot be prosecuted if they fail to provide their name. In other words, it will ensure such information is unambiguously non-compulsory.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @07:48PM
The point of this is to challenge it, not to keep his privacy. He's doing everyone else a favor, whereas you seem to be selfish. And I doubt he'd be the only one who refuses to write his name anyway.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday August 09 2016, @08:49PM
It. Was. A. JOKE.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 09 2016, @09:29PM
Joke? AC gets it! Look, he left his name off his post, to save the rest of us, for great justice!