Review of 2021 Census Topics

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The 2016 Census included Australian South Sea Islanders specifically in the instructions for Question 18 – Ancestry. This change was also widely communicated in the community. Multicultural Affairs Queensland (MAQ), within the Department of Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs, recommends further enhancement of data collection for this population, through the inclusion of an Australian South Sea Islander identifier tick box as a permanent part of the existing question on ‘Ancestry’. It is proposed that a tick box option will facilitate better participation and identification of Australian South Sea islanders in the Census for reasons including ease of reporting compared with writing and increased visibility of the response option.

The Australian South Sea Islander community was officially recognised by the Commonwealth Government in 1994, and by the Queensland Government in 2000, and there are ongoing calls from the Australian South Sea Islander community for greater recognition and response from Government to address the needs and aspirations of this community.

MAQ therefore considers that implementing ways to improve enumeration of Australian South Sea Islanders in the Census is key to giving due recognition to this unique community, their distinct and important role in Australia’s history and future, and to better enable Government policy and planning responses to address disadvantage experienced by this community.

Australian South Sea Islanders are a distinct cultural group with a unique history and position in Australian society. They are the Australian-born descendants of people who were brought to Australia between 1863 and 1904 to work as indentured labourers in the primary industries. It is estimated that over 50,000 people, predominantly men, came from some 80 South Sea (Pacific) Islands, and the majority were kidnapped, ‘blackbirded’ or deceived into coming. Many of the South Sea Islanders were deported in the early 1900s following the introduction of the White Australia policy (see reference at footnote 1).

Until the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) started collecting Australian South Sea Islander data in the 2001 Census, the last major source of data was the Census of the Australian South Sea Islander population undertaken as part of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s research on this cohort of people in 1992; published in ‘A Call for Recognition’ report. Prior to that, the only other accurate count of South Sea Islanders was following the mass deportation in 1900s.

There has been longstanding anecdotal evidence of the under-enumeration of Australian South Sea Islanders (discussed below). As a result there are significant gaps in data for this disadvantaged community, which has impacted on Government to respond appropriately from a policy and planning perspective.

In the 2016 Census, 9,388 people identified as having Australian South Sea Islander ancestry in Australia, a significant increase from 4,037 people in the 2011 Census. MAQ welcomes this significant increase and recognises this increase is likely due to extensive engagement undertaken by the ABS and community stakeholders ahead of the 2016 Census.


Footnote:

1. Flanagan, T., Wilkie, M., Iuliano, S. Australian South Sea Islanders: A century of race discrimination under Australian law. https://www.humanrights.gov.au/erace-archives-australian-south-sea-islanders#1

Improving Australian South Sea Islanders’ response in the Census is critical to improving recognition of this community and their unique historical experiences, cultural heritage and contribution to Australia, and to improving government policy, program and service delivery.

Australian South Sea Islanders have little in common with more recent groups of migrants (including from Pacific Island nations), having been settled in Australia since the 19th century. They are also not indigenous to this country, although many have dual or tri-cultural heritage through interrelationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Available information, including through community feedback, indicates Australian South Sea Islanders continue to experience similar levels of social and economic disadvantage to that of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Australian South Sea Islanders have long called for greater recognition from Government of their community’s unique historical experiences, cultural heritage and contribution to the country. While the Commonwealth and Queensland Government have formally recognised Australian South Sea Islanders as a distinct and unique ethnic group, there continues to be a systemic lack of recognition and Australian South Sea Islanders tend to ‘fall through the cracks’ when it comes to Government policy and program development. Many Government agencies do not collect data on Australian South Sea Islander ancestry or ethnicity, and there are very limited programs and services targeted at addressing areas of disadvantage faced by Australian South Sea Islanders. For this reason the Australian South Sea Islander community has continued to call for greater recognition from Government that is reflected in practice.

In November 2014, the Federal Parliament Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs (the Committee) held a roundtable discussion to mark the 20th anniversary of the Commonwealth Government recognition of Australian South Sea Islanders. In its report of March 2015, Revisiting Recognition: Report on the roundtable with Australian South Sea Islanders, the Committee concluded that not enough is being done to address Australian South Sea Islanders’ ongoing disadvantage (see reference at footnote 2).

The report’s sole recommendation calls for action from the Australian Government, to work across agencies, to identify priority areas to address disadvantage, improve coordination with State governments, and address problems in the provision and delivery of culturally aware and appropriate Government services to Australian South Sea Islanders.

On 22 March 2017 the federal Department of Social Service tabled its response to the report stating it agrees in principle with its sole recommendation and made a commitment to:
1) reinstate Australian South Sea Islanders as a specific target group in the Multicultural Access and Equity Policy;
2) utilise the existing whole-of-government consultative mechanism, the Senior Officials Settlement Outcomes Group (SOSOG), together with bilateral meetings, to discuss issues related to Australian South Sea Islanders; and
3) increase awareness across the Commonwealth of the needs and barriers of this group.

A major Australian South Sea Islander survey undertaken by Queensland Government in 2014 found that the need for recognition, by Government and the broader community, continues to be a key aspiration of the Australian South Sea Islander community. The 1992 HREOC A Call for Recognition report found this community was in a situation of high need, with particular difficulties observed in school retention, employment skills, home ownership and health (see reference at footnote 3).

MAQ considers that implementing ways to improve enumeration of Australian South Sea Islanders in the Census will enable all tiers of Government to gain a better understanding of the areas of disadvantage experienced by this community and to develop appropriate policy and program responses.


Footnotes

2. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs (March 2015). Revisiting recognition:
Report on the roundtable with Australian South Sea Islanders. https://www.aph.gov.au/~/media/02%20Parliamentary%20Business/24%20Committees/243%20Reps%20Committees/SPLA/ASSI/Finalreport_23Mar15.pdf?la=en

3. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1992). The Call for Recognition: A Report on the Situation of Australian South Sea Islanders (p26).

The Australian South Sea Islander population is spread nationally. While Australian South Sea Islanders may account for a small proportion of the Australian population, there are particular communities especially in Queensland and New South Wales that have significant proportions of Australian South Sea Islanders (see reference at footnote 4).

Available information, including through community feedback, indicates Australian South Sea Islanders continue to experience similar levels of social and economic disadvantage to that of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. It appears that some of these experiences of disadvantage are exacerbated by the fact that Australian South Sea Islanders don’t always identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, although many have interrelationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and have little in common with more recent groups of migrants, including those from the Pacific Islands. MAQ has received feedback that Australian South Sea Islanders do not consider themselves as part of Australia’s multicultural community.

For these reasons Australian South Sea Islanders tend to ‘fall through the cracks’ when it comes to Government policy and program development. Notably, there are few programs and services targeted at addressing areas of disadvantage faced by Australian South Sea Islanders.

MAQ proposes that an Australian South Sea Islander identifier tick box option will facilitate better participation and identification of Australian South Sea islanders in the Census for reasons including ease of reporting (compared with writing) and increased visibility and prominence of the response option.

Improved enumeration of Australian South Sea Islanders in the Census can lead the way to building the evidence base to support understanding of, and development of appropriate responses to, the issues experienced by this community. For example, better enumeration of Australian South Sea Islanders, combined with other characteristics such as housing, employment and education data, would enable Government and community to gain a better understanding of how this community is faring across these areas. It would be useful to have access to Data on Australian South Sea Islanders at a small area/granular level.


Footnote
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Census of Population and Housing, 2016.

MAQ considers that the uniqueness of Australian South Sea Islanders warrants a stand-alone Australian South Sea Islander identifier tick box as a permanent and more visible part of the existing ‘Ancestry’ question.

This will make it significantly easier and quicker for Australian South Sea Islanders to respond to this question, thereby likely to significantly improve enumeration of this cohort. It will also serve as an important explicit recognition by Government of Australian South Sea Islanders as a distinct and unique cultural group.

MAQ also considers it will be important to continue to acknowledge and actively address other issues that may be impacting on the under-enumeration among this cohort. Some of these issues may be:
• mistrust of the Census process or mistrust of Government – some respondents may be concerned that identifying as Australian South Sea Islander may negatively impact on their access to Government-subsidised programs and services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders;
• where a respondent has multiple ancestries, the other ancestries may be given higher weight, taking precedence over their South Sea Islander heritage; and
• lack of understanding of what an Australian South Sea Islander is – some may identify their ancestry as being from one of the Pacific Islands instead of an Australian South Sea Islander.

The total number of Australian South Sea Islanders enumerated in the 2016 Census was 9,388, up from 4,037 in the 2011 Census. MAQ welcomes that the enumeration of Australian South Sea Islanders is moving in the right direction, and would strongly encourage the ABS to continue to address barriers to counting Australian South Sea Islander data so as to normalise the response from the Australian South Sea Islander community into the future.

The 1992 the Call for Recognition report cites some sources estimating there may be up to 15,000 to 20,000 descendants of the original indentured labourers in Australia at the time of the report. The Census collection, undertaken as part of the same study, counted 10,200 people identifying as Australian South Sea Islanders. At the time of the report the HREOC estimated that the South Sea Islander community consisted between 10,000 and 12,000 people (see reference at footnote 5) . This suggests that could be more people with Australian South Sea Islanders ancestry than has been reflected in the Census to date.

Footnote

5. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1992). The Call for Recognition: A Report on the Situation of Australian South Sea Islanders (p26).

MAQ notes that for the existing Census questions on Country of Birth, Religion, Ancestry and Language, the ABS provides as available options the top six to ten most frequent response by people from the previous Census.

However, as already discussed in Assessment criteria 3 (above), MAQ considers the uniqueness of Australian South Sea Islanders warrants a stand-alone Australian South Sea Islander identifier tick box as a permanent part of the existing ‘Ancestry’ question.

It is highly unlikely that this would be considered intrusive, offensive or controversial. If this proposed change is adopted, MAQ would suggest some educational material for the community to raise awareness about the unique historical experiences, cultural heritage and contribution of the Australian South Sea Islander community to the Australian society, and the rationale for inclusion of the stand-alone identifier tick box.

As stated in Assessment criteria 2 MAQ suggests that an Australian South Sea Islander identifier tick box option will facilitate better participation and identification of Australian South Sea islanders in the Census for reasons including ease of reporting (compared with writing) and increased visibility and prominence of the response option.

The proposed inclusion of an Australian South Sea Islander identifier tick box as permanent part of the existing question on ‘Ancestry’ will have minimal changes to the question. It is unlikely that this proposed change will have any time or cost impost for the collection and coding of information on the ‘Ancestry’ question.

The proposal identifier tick box will not require additional instruction or explanation and may lead to efficacy and efficiency in the move from free text.

It is proposed that Australian South Sea Islander identifier tick box is included in the 2021 Census form and every 5 years thereafter as the topic is likely to remain relevant into the future. This enhancement will build evidence to help Government and community better recognise and understand Australian South Sea Islanders into the future, and improve government policy, program and service delivery.

To MAQ’s knowledge there are no other data sources that collect and provide information on Australian South Sea Islanders’ demographic and other characteristics, such as employment, education, health and wellbeing.

Until the ABS started collecting Australian South Sea Islander data in the 2001 Census, the last major source of data was the Census of the Australian South Sea Islander population and the subsequent report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in 1992. Prior to that, the only other accurate count of South Sea Islanders was undertaken in 1906, when a large proportion of South Sea Islanders were deported from the country following the introduction of the White Australia Policy.

MAQ welcomes the ABS’ collection of data on Australian South Sea Islanders since the 2001 Census, which has continued every five years. MAQ also welcomes the extensive work undertaken by the ABS in partnership with a range of stakeholders, to engage with the Australian South Sea Islander community to encourage response to the Census. The significant increase in the count of Australian South Sea Islanders between the 2011 and 2016 Census is likely the result of the extensive awareness raising and promotion undertaken by ABS and community stakeholders.