{"id":852493,"date":"2026-08-12T10:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T10:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852493\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T10:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T10:22:21","slug":"no-census-forms-regional-queensland-thousands-who-missed-out-on-census-forms-fear-theyll-still-be-fined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852493\/","title":{"rendered":"No census forms regional Queensland: Thousands who missed out on census forms fear they\u2019ll still be fined"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queenslanders who received nothing in the mail from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) are worried they\u2019ll be fined up to $364 a day for missing the census<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maranoa MP<\/a> David Littleproud said his electorate offices have been inundated with complaints from Tuesday night from locals who said they received no paperwork or online instructions for the national survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Queenslanders who received nothing in the mail from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) are demanding guarantees they won\u2019t be fined for missing the census.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

Reports of missed households came from across the entire outback Queensland electorate, including Roma, Longreach, Charleville, Cunnamulla, Eulo, Yowah, and Ilfracombe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese aren\u2019t isolated cases, they\u2019re entire communities that have been forgotten,\u201d Littleproud said.<\/p>\n

Paper forms were supposed to be delivered to regional and remote areas or made available upon request, even as the ABS shifted to a digital-first census<\/a>, expecting most households to complete it online.<\/p>\n

However, many residents say they didn\u2019t even receive an instruction letter.<\/p>\n

Paroo Shire Mayor Suzette Beresford, whose council was caught up in the bungle, said local frustrations were compounded by misleading messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did not help that TV and newspaper advertisements about the census showed a person filling in a paper form,\u201d Beresford told nine.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was insufficient information given that the ABS expected the census to be completed online and that a paper form had to be applied for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beresford said that residents who tried to request paper forms faced 40-minute wait times on the ABS helpline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Yowah \u2013 an opal-mining town 949 kilometres west of Brisbane \u2013 locals were left completely stranded without internet or forms.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Paroo Shire Mayor Suzette Beresford (centre) said local frustrations were compounded by misleading messaging.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are numerous residences within the four Paroo Shire towns of Cunnamulla, Eulo, Wyandra, and Yowah that do not have internet,\u201d Beresford said.<\/p>\n

Local leaders also fear the bungle could compromise crucial regional data used to allocate government funding and services.<\/p>\n

Littleproud echoed these concerns, saying the digital-first model ignored the realities of life in outback Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of my constituents aren\u2019t computer-literate, and many simply don\u2019t have the internet access or mobile coverage to complete an online census, even if they wanted to,\u201d the former Nationals leader<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

While the census is compulsory, missing census night does not automatically mean an immediate fine. The ABS first contacts households that have not completed the form to issue reminders.<\/p>\n

If a household still fails to respond, the ABS can issue a formal legal direction. Ignoring that direction is an offence under the Census and Statistics Act 1905, carrying potential fines of up to $364 per day.<\/p>\n

Littleproud has written to the Assistant Productivity and Treasury Minister Andrew Leigh seeking confirmation that residents left without forms won\u2019t be fined.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Littleproud has written to Andrew Leigh, asking for assurances that residents who didn\u2019t receive census forms won\u2019t be fined.\u00a0Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

\u201cNo family, farmer, or older Australian should be penalised for a mess that belongs entirely to the Bureau of Statistics,\u201d Littleproud said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also calling on the ABS to explain how affected communities will now be counted.<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au has reached out to Leigh for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queenslanders who received nothing in the mail from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) are worried they\u2019ll be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-852493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}