EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1990 NO. 91
ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE TREASURER
Census and Statistics Act 1905
Census Regulations (Amendment)
Section 27 of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (the Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters and things which, by the Act, are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Regulation 4 of Census Regulations (Statutory Rules 1989 No. 71) describes for the purpose of Section 8 of the Act the matters on which statistical information is proposed to be collected in the 1991 Census of Population and Housing.
Testing of question wording and sequencing, which was still being carried out when the Regulations were made on 27 April 1989, has resulted in a decision to omit a question about ‘availability to commence employment’ from the 1991 Census. Testing showed that its inclusion would have had an undesirable effect on the way people answer other more important questions on the census form.
The amendment to Regulation 4 has the effect of removing ‘availability to commence employment’ from the list of matters on which statistical information will be collected in the 1991 Census.