The staggering failure of the Australian Bureau of Statistics last night to manage the online component of a census it had had five years in which to prepare caps off a remarkable series of bungles by the once-respected agency in relation to what former ABS head Bill McLennan has termed “the most significant invasion of privacy ever perpetrated on Australians”. The ABS’ dismissive, almost scornful rejection of widespread and legitimate concerns about privacy has now been capped by an implementation debacle that has badly damaged the census and destroyed the credibility of what should be one of Australia’s most respected independent public service bodies.
Normally, the CEO responsible for such a remarkable bungle would be under pressure to resign. However, ABS head David Kalisch should not resign or be dismissed at this time. It took the government nearly a year to appoint Kalisch, leaving the ABS directionless at a crucial time when it was struggling with funding cuts imposed by both sides. This is not to absolve Kalisch of responsibility — his own response to privacy and security concerns about the census has bordered on the arrogant. But his removal will leave a key national institution again adrift — and who knows how long this seemingly increasingly incompetent government will take to replace him.
Clearly, however, a parliamentary inquiry is necessary to investigate how the census failed. An in-house inquiry by the government is not sufficient — it must be a Senate references inquiry headed by a non-government senator that can explore how this disaster unfolded — and how such a monumental stuff-up can be prevented in 2021.
“… this seemingly increasingly incompetent government …”
A depressingly accurate description. My old Scots Gran used this phrase for the incompetent: Could nae run a bath. She died almost sixty years ago but I remember her daily as I observe the latest government failing.
If the web site could handle 1 million per hour – stands to reason that immediately after dinner and watching the news all households would immediately start to do the census. Probably more than 3 million households attempted to connect at the same time. This is basic traffic engineering. Its more likely that the denial of service attack was simply all households attempting at the same time to connect to a resource that was under configured.
Bureau of Statistics chief David Kalisch is on a $705,030 a year package.
He is not going to resign.
The presser today was as perfect an example as could be imagined for how not to pretend to offer assurance that all is well and the Master is at table in his castle.
A clueless, or utterly mendacious, Minister, a hapless flack & civil servant telling the assembled meeja reptiles that black is white, water dry and no-probs, no-how.
No hint of failure, no threat, everything is dunky-hory.
If this arrogant & derisive dismissal of all the questions put does not result in some less than adulatory articles then the sooner jpournalists are set to picking oakum the better.
Kalisch — “his own response to privacy and security concerns about the census has bordered on the arrogant”
And it continues with his holier than thou “assurance” that the Data has not been compromised ….. I’ve got more faith in the tooth fairy.