Once every five years, we must take stock.

Yup, it is Census night. Have all you good Aussies filled out your census forms? I am one of those weird people who just love filling out forms, surveys, questionaires, etc. Maybe it is an Aries thing? I filled out my bit and Ken did his bit after me - reluctantly, mind you, but no way was he going to let me do this all important task all on my own!

I get cross with people who object to the census. As I said to someone today - 'how do you think all this (waving my arms around a government building) works? It doesn't just happen without directions'. The Powers-That-Be need to know stuff about the entire population, in order to plan for the future, e.g. where people are living or moving to, so hospitals and schools can be built. How many people are needing care of some sort, and how many people do this for a living? The census will enable the ABS to figure out whether there are enough carers for those who need it, and if not, plan to put training in place. Another question addresses what transport people use day to day. From the answers to this, governments can make long term plans about public transport and roads.

Sorry to get on my soapbox about this topic, but those who scream 'invasion of privacy' just don't get the bigger picture.