Privacy concerns around the census hit front pages this week. But Crikey readers have had the full bottle for months.
Way back in January Crikey broke the story that the Bureau of Statistics would indefinitely retain names and addresses. Political editor Bernard Keane followed up with damaging revelations that the ABS had been told it was a bad idea. In June, an FOI investigation showed the move was driven by budget considerations. Last month, a former chief statistician sensationally wrote for Crikey that compelling us to supply personal information was unconstitutional.
This week Bernard even suggested a boycott. According to our resident lawyer, he might end up in jail.
[The 2016 census is a huge threat to your privacy — boycott it]
But that’s what you get when you read Crikey: the inside story, before anyone else, with expert commentary unafraid of the consequences. For 16 years, we’ve been telling our readers what the others don’t.
And a subscription might be less than you think. Sign up monthly, cancel anytime, and you’ll pay less than 70 cents an edition. Good luck finding a newspaper that cheap.
Because if you want to really be counted, you need Crikey.
Crikey encourages robust conversations on our website. However, we’re a small team, so sometimes we have to reluctantly turn comments off due to legal risk. Thanks for your understanding and in the meantime, have a read of our moderation guidelines.