Australian Bureau of Statistics - Census data a potential privacy risk?

Last week saw privacy experts and consumer groups express concern at the proposal by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to retain certain information from the Census to be held on 9 August this year.  In previous censuses information was used but not retained. 

The proposal now is that both address data and name data be retained and used.  The ABS said that it wants to be able to combine the Census data with other data sets, such as health and education statistics, to get a richer and more dynamic statistical picture of Australia.

The concern of privacy experts and consumer groups is not aimed primarily at the ABS and its proposed uses but at the possibility of "function creep" and that other government departments, such as the Tax Office and ASIO, may be able to access the data and use it for other purposes.  The risk, expressed by a number of parties is that "the ABS becomes the unwitting tool of a government intent on mass population surveillance".