This compilation was prepared on 12 December 2001
taking into account amendments up to Ordinance No. 4 of 1981
Prepared by the Office of Legislative Drafting,
Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra
Contents
Page
Part I Preliminary
1 Citation [see Note 1]
2 Application
3 Definitions
Part II Administration
4 Appointment of Statistician
5 Delegation by the Statistician
Part III Census
6 Taking of the Census
7 Statistician to take steps for collection of the Census
8 Division of the Territory for the Census
9 Appointment of officers
11 Duties of Field Supervisor
12 Duties of Collectors
13 Householder’s Schedule
14 Distribution of Householder’s Schedules
15 Delivery of Householder’s Schedules to ships
16 Occupiers to fill up Householder’s Schedules
17 Supply of particulars by persons who do not wish to provide information for inclusion in the Householder’s Schedule
18 Persons may be required to furnish particulars
19 Obligation of persons in respect of whom particulars are not furnished
20 Collection of Schedules
21 Particulars with respect to uninhabited dwellings
22 Collectors to assist in filling up Schedules
23 Persons to supply information to Collectors
Part IV Statistics
23A Collection of statistics
23B Appointment of officers
23C Duties of officers
23D Completion of forms
23E Requirement under section 23D
23F Evidentiary provisions
23G Duty of persons to answer questions
23H Powers of entry and inspection
Part V Miscellaneous
23J Undertaking of fidelity and secrecy
24 Failure by officers to perform duties
25 Untrue returns by officers
26 Officers to observe secrecy
27 Penalty for false returns or answers
28 Forgery of forms
29 No penalty for failure to state the ethnic group or religion of a person
30 Publication
31 Regulations
The Schedule
Notes
An Ordinance relating to the Taking and Collection of Censuses and the collection of statistics in the Territory of Christmas Island
Part I Preliminary
1 Citation [see Note 1]
This Ordinance may be cited as the Census and Statistics Ordinance 1961.
2 Application
Where a building is let, sub-let or held in different apartments and occupied by different persons or families, this Ordinance applies to and in relation to each part so let, sub-let or held and used for the purpose of human habitation, and to and in relation to the persons residing in each such part, as if the part were a separate dwelling.
3 Definitions
In this Ordinance, unless the contrary intention appears:
Census day means the day in a census year appointed by the Minister, by notice published in the Gazette, to be a census day for the purpose of the taking of the Census.
census year means a calender year in which the Census is required to be taken in the Territory in pursuance of section six of this Ordinance.
dwelling means a building, erection or tenement, whether permanent or temporary, that is wholly or partly used for the purpose of human habitation, and includes any ship or other vessel in a port in the Territory or on a passage between any two ports in the Territory.
Householder’s Schedule includes a personal slip.
officer means a person appointed under section 9 or 23B.
occupier includes a governor, superintendent, officer-in-charge or keeper of a gaol, prison, hospital, lunatic asylum or public or charitable institution.
personal slip means a personal slip referred to in section seventeen of this Ordinance.
ship includes any vessel used in navigation by water.
the Statistician means:
(a) where a Statistician is appointed for the purposes of both Part III and Part IV — that Statistician; or
(b) the Statistician appointed for the purposes of Part III or the Statistician appointed for the purposes of Part IV, as the case requires.
Part II Administration
4 Appointment of Statistician
(1) The Minister may appoint a Statistician for the purposes of Part III.
(2) The Minister may appoint a Statistician for the purposes of Part IV.
(3) If no appointment is in force under subsection (1) or (2), the Minister may appoint a Statistician for the purposes of both Parts III and IV.
5 Delegation by the Statistician
(1) With the approval of the Minister, the Statistician may, by writing under his hand, in relation to a matter or class of matters, delegate any of his powers or functions under this Ordinance (except this power of delegation).
(2) A power or function so delegated may be exercised or performed by the delegate in accordance with the instrument of delegation.
(3) A delegation under this section is revocable at will and does not prevent the exercise of a power or the performance of a function by the Statistician.
Part III Census
6 Taking of the Census
The Census shall be taken in each year in which the Census is taken in the Commonwealth under the Census and Statistics Act 1905.
7 Statistician to take steps for collection of the Census
It is the duty of the Statistician, subject to the directions of the Minister, to prepare and issue forms and instructions, and to take all necessary steps, for the taking and collection of the Census in a census year.
8 Division of the Territory for the Census
(1) The Statistician may, for the purposes of the taking and collection of the Census in a census year, divide the Territory into such Collector’s Districts as he considers necessary.
(2) Where the Territory is not divided into Collector’s Districts under the last preceding subsection for the purposes of the taking and collection of the Census in a census year, the whole of the Territory shall be deemed to be a Collector’s District for those purposes in that census year.
9 Appointment of officers
(1) For the purposes of the taking and collection of the Census in a census year:
(a) the Minister shall appoint a person to be the Field Supervisor for the Territory; and
(b) the Field Supervisor for the Territory shall appoint, in respect of each Collector’s District, a person to be the Collector for that District.
(2) A person appointed under this section holds office during the pleasure of the person by whom he has been appointed.
(3) A person appointed under this section shall be paid, in respect of the performance of his duties under this Ordinance, such remuneration as the Minister approves.
11 Duties of Field Supervisor
Subject to this Ordinance and to any directions duly given him by the Statistician, the Field Supervisor shall:
(a) make all necessary arrangements for the taking and collection of the Census in the Territory in the census year in relation to which he is appointed;
(b) obtain an accurate record of the population in the Territory; and
(c) forward that record, together with such summaries of that record as the Statistician directs, to the Statistician as soon as possible after that record or those summaries have been obtained.
12 Duties of Collectors
Each Collector shall carry out such duties in relation to the taking and collection of the Census in the census year in relation to which he is appointed as are prescribed by this Ordinance or as the Statistician directs.
13 Householder’s Schedule
(1) For the purposes of taking and collecting the Census in a census year, a Householder’s Schedule shall be prepared specifying the matters in relation to:
(a) a dwelling; and
(b) a person in that dwelling;
in respect of which particulars are required to be furnished.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) the matters in relation to a dwelling are:
(a) the type of the dwelling, that is to say, whether the dwelling is a house, flat, community block or another type of dwelling;
(b) if the dwelling is of a type other than a house, flat or community block — a description of the type of the dwelling;
(c) the material of which the outer walls of the dwelling are constructed;
(d) the number of rooms in the dwelling;
(e) the principal purpose for which each of those rooms is used; and
(f) the address of the dwelling.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), the matters in relation to a person are:
(a) the name of the person;
(b) the sex of the person;
(c) the age of the person on the Census day;
(d) the relationship of the person to the head of the household in the dwelling in which the person resides;
(e) whether the person has ever been married;
(f) if the person has been married:
(i) whether the spouse of the person is alive;
(ii) whether the person is permanently separated from the person’s spouse; and
(iii) whether the person has been divorced and is not, on the Census day, married;
(g) the country where the person was born;
(h) if the person was not born in the Territory — the year in which the person first entered the Territory;
(i) the country of which the person is a citizen;
(j) the ethnic group to which the person belongs;
(k) the religion of the person;
(l) the languages most frequently used by the person;
(m) the principal work or activity normally undertaken by the person, that is to say, whether the person:
(i) is normally in business or employment;
(ii) normally undertakes unpaid home duties;
(iii) is a child who attends school full-time; or
(iv) normally undertakes an activity not referred to in subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iii);
(n) if the person normally undertakes an activity not referred to in subparagraph (m) (i), (m) (ii) or (m) (iii) — a description of the principal activity normally undertaken by the person;
(o) if the person is not a child who attends school full-time — whether the person ever attended school full-time;
(p) if the person has ceased to attend school full-time — the age of the person when he ceased to attend school full‑time;
(q) if the person ever obtained a professional, trade, technical or other occupational qualification — the name of each such qualification and of the institution that granted it;
(r) if the person is skilled in a trade or other occupation — the name of the trade or occupation and the number of years during which the person exercised the skill;
(s) if the person has a source of income — the total gross income which the person usually receives from all sources weekly or annually;
(t) whether in the week immediately before the Census day the person had a full-time or part-time job, in employment or otherwise, other than unpaid home duties (whether or not the person worked in the job);
(u) whether in that week the person worked in a job, in employment or otherwise, other than unpaid home duties;
(v) if in that week the person worked in an industry, a business, government service or another service, other than unpaid home duties — the nature of that industry, business, government service or other service;
(w) if in that week the person worked in a job, other than unpaid home duties — the nature of that job;
(x) if in that week the person worked in a job, other than unpaid home duties — the number of hours the person worked in the job in that week;
(y) whether in that week the person sought employment;
(z) if on the Census day the person owned a motor vehicle, other than a motor cycle or motor scooter — whether the vehicle was purchased by the person after 30 June 1980;
(za) whether on the Census day the person owned a television set; and
(zb) whether on the Census day the person owned a video cassette recorder.
(4) For the purpose of subsection (2) of this section, where a dwelling consists of one room only or is an apartment that consists of one room only, whether or not it is a room of a kind known as a bedsitting room, the dwelling shall be deemed not to contain a bedroom.
14 Distribution of Householder’s Schedules
(1) For the purposes of the taking and collection of the Census in a census year, a Collector shall leave a Householder’s Schedule at each occupied dwelling within the Collector’s District.
(2) Except with the approval of the Field Supervisor for the Territory, a Collector shall not leave a Householder’s Schedule at a dwelling earlier than seven days before the Census day, or after the Census day, to which it relates.
(3) A Collector shall leave the Householder’s Schedule at a dwelling:
(a) by delivering it personally to the occupier of the dwelling;
(b) by delivering it to a person apparently in charge of the dwelling or residing at the dwelling; or
(c) if no person is in the dwelling at the time the Collector calls at the dwelling — by placing it in the letter-box for the dwelling, under a door of the dwelling or in some other place where it is likely to come to the notice of the occupier.
(4) A person, not being the occupier of a dwelling, who receives a Householder’s Schedule, into whose hands a Householder’s Schedule comes or who receives notice of the fact that a Householder’s Schedule has been left at a dwelling shall deliver the Schedule to the occupier or give notice of that fact to the occupier, as the case requires.
Penalty for a contravention of this subsection: Ten dollars.
15 Delivery of Householder’s Schedules to ships
(1) The Collector for a Collector’s District in which a port is included shall leave a Householder’s Schedule with the master of each ship that is in the port on the Census day in a census year.
(2) Where a ship is on a passage between any two ports in the Territory on the Census day in a census year and a Householder’s Schedule was not left with the master of the ship before that Census day, the Collector for the Collector’s District in which the port at which the ship first arrives after that Census day is included shall leave a Householder’s Schedule with the master of the ship.
16 Occupiers to fill up Householder’s Schedules
The occupier of a dwelling, or the master of a ship, with or for whom a Householder’s Schedule relating to the taking of the Census on a Census day has been left shall:
(a) to the best of his knowledge and belief, fill up and furnish in the Schedule, in accordance with the instructions contained in or accompanying the Schedule, all the particulars specified in the Schedule in relation to the dwelling and in relation to every person who is residing in the dwelling or on the ship on the night of the Census day;
(b) sign his name on the Schedule; and
(c) deliver the Schedule, when so filled up and signed, to a Collector authorised to receive it.
Penalty: Twenty dollars.
17 Supply of particulars by persons who do not
wish to provide information for inclusion in the Householder’s Schedule
(1) Where a person does not wish to furnish to the occupier of a dwelling or to the master of a ship, for insertion in the Householder’s Schedule for that dwelling or ship, the particulars required to be furnished in that Schedule in respect of himself, the Collector shall supply to the occupier, for completion by that person, a personal slip containing the questions relating to the matters in respect of a person that are required to be specified in a Householder’s Schedule under section thirteen of this Ordinance.
(2) A person who does not wish to furnish to the occupier of the dwelling or to the master of a ship for insertion in the Householder’s Schedule for that dwelling or ship the particulars so required to be furnished in respect of himself shall supply those particulars on the personal slip, shall sign the slip, seal it in an envelope and hand the envelope to the occupier or master, as the case may be.
Penalty: Twenty dollars.
(3) The occupier of a dwelling or the master of a ship shall deliver each envelope handed to him in accordance with the last preceding subsection to the Collector when delivering to the Collector the Householder’s Schedule for the dwelling or ship.
Penalty for a contravention of this subsection: Twenty dollars.
18 Persons may be required to furnish particulars
(1) Where a Collector has reason to believe:
(a) that a person did not reside in a dwelling on the night of the Census day in a census year; or
(b) that a person:
(i) is a person in respect of whom the particulars specified in a personal slip are required to be furnished under this Ordinance; and
(ii) no such particulars in respect of the person have been so furnished;
the Collector shall require the person:
(c) to supply, in a personal slip handed to the person by the Collector, the particulars in respect of the person specified in the slip; or
(d) to furnish to the Collector such particulars as are necessary to enable a personal slip to be completed in respect of that person.
(2) A person shall not fail to comply with a requirement made under the last preceding subsection.
Penalty for an offence against this subsection: Twenty dollars.
(3) The Statistician may require a person to furnish, with respect to another person who was in the Territory on the night of the Census day in a census year but did not reside in a dwelling on that night, particulars of any of the matters relating to a person that are specified in a Householder’s Schedule.
(4) A person shall not fail to comply, to the best of his knowledge and belief, with a requirement made under the last preceding subsection.
Penalty for an offence against this subsection: Twenty dollars.
19 Obligation of persons in respect of whom particulars are not furnished
Where the particulars required under this Ordinance in respect of a person have not been included in a Householder’s Schedule or in a personal slip that has been furnished to an occupier of a dwelling, to the master of a ship or to a Collector, that person shall, as soon as practicable after the Census day in a census year, attend at a post office or police station and there furnish the particulars in respect of himself specified in a Householder’s Schedule.
Penalty: Twenty dollars.
20 Collection of Schedules
A Collector shall, as soon as practicable after the Census day in a census year, call at each dwelling in the Collector’s District for which he has been appointed and collect the Householder’s Schedules and the personal slips in respect of that dwelling.
21 Particulars with respect to uninhabited dwellings
Where a Collector finds that a dwelling is uninhabited on the Census day in a census year, the Collector shall:
(a) supply, on a Householder’s Schedule, such of the particulars in relation to a dwelling as are specified in that Schedule and he can ascertain by observation and inquiry;
(b) write on the Schedule the word ‘unoccupied’ and such brief particulars of the reasons why the dwelling is uninhabited as he can ascertain by inquiry; and
(c) sign the Schedule.
22 Collectors to assist in filling up Schedules
It is the duty of a Collector:
(a) to assist a person who requests him so to do in filling up a Householder’s Schedule; and
(b) to satisfy himself by inquiries from the occupiers of dwellings or other persons that the Householder’s Schedules collected by him have been correctly filled up.
23 Persons to supply information to Collectors
A person shall answer, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a question asked him by a Collector, being a question relevant to any information that the Collector is required to obtain for the purpose of the taking and collection of the Census in a census year.
Penalty: Twenty dollars.
Part IV Statistics
23A Collection of statistics
The Statistician shall, subject to the regulations and in accordance with the directions (if any) of the Minister, collect statistics in relation to all or any of the following matters:
(a) accidents;
(b) banking, insurance and finance;
(c) education;
(d) employment and non-employment;
(e) entertainments and amusements including sports, recreation and cultural activities;
(f) erection, alteration and repair of buildings and other constructional activity;
(g) housing;
(h) imports and exports;
(i) migration;
(j) population;
(k) postal and telegraphic matters;
(l) prices, rents and household and family budgets;
(m) public health and quarantine;
(n) shipping and transport;
(o) sickness, diseases and injuries;
(p) superannuation, provident and pension schemes;
(q) trade and commerce;
(r) wages, earnings and conditions of employment;
(s) wholesale and retail business;
(t) wireless, radio and telephone matters.
23B Appointment of officers
(1) For the purpose of the collection of statistics under this Ordinance, the Minister may appoint such officers as he thinks fit.
(2) A person appointed under this section holds office during the pleasure of the Minister.
(3) A person appointed under this section shall be paid, in respect of the performance of his duties under this Ordinance, such remuneration as the Minister approves.
23C Duties of officers
Each officer appointed under section 23B shall perform such duties in relation to the collection of statistics under this Ordinance as are prescribed or as the Statistician directs.
23D Completion of forms
For the purpose of enabling the collection of statistics under this Ordinance, the Statistician may require a person to supply, in accordance with the instructions contained in or accompanying a form supplied to that person by the Statistician, the particulars specified in that form, and that person shall, to the best of his knowledge, comply with the requirement.
Penalty: $20.
23E Requirement under section 23D
(1) A requirement of the Statistician under section 23D shall be in writing and may be made:
(a) in the case of a requirement on a person other than a body corporate, by delivering it personally or by leaving it at, or by sending it by post to, that person’s usual or last known place of residence or business; or
(b) in the case of a requirement on a body corporate, by delivering it to, or sending it by post to, the registered office of the body corporate or to any office at which the body corporate carries on business.
(2) The form and instructions referred to in section 23D shall be supplied to the person or body corporate with a requirement specified in subsection (1).
(3) The requirement or the instructions shall specify a date on or before which the particulars specified in the form are to be supplied and the place and the person to whom those particulars are to be supplied.
23F Evidentiary provisions
(1) In a prosecution for an alleged offence under section 23D, a certificate purporting to have been signed by the Statistician shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been duly signed by the Statistician.
(2) For the purpose of a prosecution for an alleged offence under section 23D, the Statistician may certify:
(a) that a document annexed to the certificate is a true copy of a requirement made of the defendant under section 23D;
(b) that a form annexed to the certificate is a true copy of the form supplied to the defendant with the requirement;
(c) that a document annexed to the certificate is a true copy of the instructions that were contained in or accompanied the form; and
(d) that the requirement and the form were delivered to, left for, or sent to the defendant in accordance with section 23E;
and such a certificate shall be evidence of the facts stated in the certificate.
(3) The person to whom particulars were, in accordance with the requirement or instructions, to have been supplied may certify that the particulars were not so supplied, and such a certificate shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been signed by that person and shall be evidence of the facts stated in the certificate.
23G Duty of persons to answer questions
A person shall, to the best of his knowledge and belief, answer all questions asked him by the Statistician or an officer appointed under section 23B that are necessary for the purpose of the collection of any statistics under this Ordinance.
Penalty: $20.
23H Powers of entry and inspection
For the purpose of making any inquiries or observations necessary for the proper exercise of his powers or performance of his functions under this Ordinance, the Statistician or any officer appointed under section 23B may, at any time:
(a) during business hours, enter and inspect any shop or other place where goods are sold and inspect any goods for sale; or
(b) during working hours, enter any factory, workshop or place where persons are employed and inspect any part of it, and all plant and machinery used in connection with it.
Part V Miscellaneous
23J Undertaking of fidelity and secrecy
The Statistician and each officer shall, before exercising any power or performing any duty conferred or imposed upon him under this Ordinance, sign, in the presence of a witness, an undertaking of fidelity and secrecy in accordance with the form in the Schedule.
24 Failure by officers to perform duties
An officer who has signed an undertaking referred to in section 23J of this Ordinance shall not refuse or wilfully neglect, without just excuse, to perform the duties of his office.
Penalty: Forty dollars.
25 Untrue returns by officers
An officer shall not wilfully or without lawful authority alter a document or form under this Ordinance or sign a document or form that, to his knowledge, contains a false statement.
Penalty: One hundred dollars.
26 Officers to observe secrecy
The Statistician, an officer or the occupier of a dwelling shall not, except as permitted by this Ordinance, divulge the contents of a form filled up, or any information furnished for the purpose of the taking and collection of a Census or the collection of statistics.
Penalty: One hundred dollars.
27 Penalty for false returns or answers
A person shall not, in a form or document filled up or furnished for the purpose of the taking and collection of a Census or the collection of statistics, or in an answer to a question asked him under the authority conferred by this Ordinance, make a statement that, to his knowledge, is untrue in a material particular.
Penalty: One hundred dollars.
28 Forgery of forms
(1) A person who forges, or utters knowing it to be forged, a form or document under this Ordinance is guilty of an offence against this section.
(2) An offence against this section may be tried by the Supreme Court, by the District Court or by the Magistrate’s Court, but an offender is not liable to be punished more than once in respect of the same offence.
(3) The punishment for an offence against this section is:
(a) if the offence is tried by the Supreme Court — imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years;
(b) if the offence is tried by the District Court — imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year; or
(c) if the offence is tried by the Magistrate’s Court — imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.
29 No penalty for failure to state the ethnic group or religion of a person
A person is not liable to a penalty for failing to answer a question concerning the ethnic group or religion of a person.
30 Publication
(1) The Statistician shall compile and tabulate the information collected in pursuance of this Ordinance, and shall publish such statistics and abstracts of that information as the Minister directs.
(2) The Statistician may publish such observations as he thinks fit on any statistics or abstracts published by him under the last preceding subsection.
(3) Statistics and abstracts of information collected in pursuance of this Ordinance may be published in conjunction with any statistics or abstracts of information collected by the Commonwealth Statistician, or by the Statistician of another Territory of the Commonwealth, in pursuance of a law relating to the taking and collection of the Census in the Commonwealth or in that other Territory.
(4) Nothing in this section authorizes the Statistician to disclose the identity of any person who supplied any information in the course of the taking and collection of the Census or in the course of the collection of statistics under this Ordinance.
31 Regulations
The Minister may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Ordinance, prescribing all matters required or permitted by this Ordinance to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Ordinance and, in particular, prescribing penalties not exceeding a fine of $100 for offences against the regulations.
The Schedule
(section 23J)
Census Ordinance 1961
Undertaking of fidelity and secrecy
I, , of , a person
appointed under the Census and Statistics Ordinance 1961 to the office of , hereby undertake that, in connexion with the taking and collection of the Census or the collection of Statistics in the year 19 :
(a) I will faithfully and to the best of my ability execute the powers conferred, and carry out the duties imposed, on me under the Census and Statistics Ordinance 1961 and the instructions issued in pursuance of that Ordinance;
(b) I will not desert from my duty;
(c) I will not, without just excuse, refuse or neglect to perform the duties of my office;
(d) I will not, wilfully or without lawful authority, alter any document or form under that Ordinance;
(e) I will not wilfully sign any untrue document or form; and
(f) I will not, except as allowed by that Ordinance, divulge the contents of any form filled up, or any information furnished, in pursuance of that Ordinance.
Dated this day of , 19 .
(Signature)
Signed in my presence:
(Signature and address of witness.)
Notes to the Census and Statistics Ordinance 1961
Note 1
Note: The Census and Statistics Ordinance 1961 (in force under the Christmas Island Act 1958) as shown in this compilation comprises Ordinance No. 2 of 1961 amended as indicated in the Tables below.