Review of 2021 Census Topics

Question 45 of the 2016 Census asks, ‘How did the person get to work on Census day?’ This is particularly useful for local and state governments to understand travel patterns by different modes. It is also informative as it enables an analysis of destination to work trips as Question 41 asks for the person’s workplace address.
Generally, journey to work trips comprise 30% of total trips therefore an opportunity to gain insights into other travel behaviour is considered warranted. It is recommended that ‘how did you travel to education’ be included as a separate question as it will provide more data on travel demand in the morning peak period and therefore an understanding of the pressures on the road and public transport networks, travel patterns and behaviours and wider impacts on community health and wellbeing. It can follow on from Question 24 - Is the person attending a school or any other educational institution? and Question 25 – What type of educational institution is the person attending? quite easily and also provides a straightforward segue to ask a travel to education question.
The data from the 2016 Census to reveals that:
• 10.68 million persons employed nationwide;
• Approximately 3.6 million are school aged students (pre-school to secondary); and
• 1.4 million students are attending universities.
Therefore, an understanding of the travel patterns and modes of 5 million school and university students will be beneficial to local and state government infrastructure and service providers. It is considered that the inclusion of this additional question meets the assessment criteria as it is of national importance with an ongoing need to collect this data and a straight forward question to respond to.

The additional question proposed, ‘How did you travel to education’ is of national importance given that there are approximately 5 million school and university students (ABS 2016), which in addition to the 10.68 million employed Australians, has a significant impact on transport infrastructure, particularly in the morning peak period. This additional question will provide much needed data on the demands placed on the road and public transport networks.
The results from this proposed question, when combined with other components or topics from the Census could also reveal important information relating to impacts of commute times, travel patterns and behaviours on individuals, families and community which have significant implications for policy, planning, programming and advocacy beyond travel to education or work data.

Given that there are approximately 5 million school and university students throughout the country, this data is needed for the entire population. Combined with the existing question on ‘How did the person go to work on Census Day’, vital information will be collected on how people travel to work and education including their destination of travel. This data can be used to inform:
• land use planning frameworks;
• identify economic development trends and opportunities;
• understand traffic congestion and commute times to assist in addressing improvements in transport infrastructure and services; and
• identify health and wellbeing issues (for example, impacts of long commute times on lack of time for physical activity, socialising, rest and relaxation time, and or family time time).

The additional question proposed ‘How did you travel to education’ is similar to Question 45 - How did the person get to work? It is therefore considered that households will be able to complete this question without difficulty providing that the response options list is identical to question 45. The proposed question also links easily and logically into Question 24 - Is the person attending a school or any other educational institution? and Question 25 – What type of educational institution is the person attending?

The proposed additional question ‘How did you travel to education’ is not offensive, intrusive or controversial and is considered acceptable to Census respondents as a similar question, Question 45 – How did the person travel to work? has been asked in previous census forms.

Data on the proposed question ‘How did you travel to education’ can be collected efficiently and will require minor processing and analysis by the ABS. A question asking respondents How did the person travel to education? will not require a lengthy instruction or explanation and it can be captured and categorised consistent with question 45 – How did the person travel to work? If the proposed question includes response options consistent with Question 45 then the additional effort on the part of the ABS will requires simple question design with an already existing coding framework at the back end for data collation which is already in place.

There is a need to continue collecting time series data given the growing population of the country and increase in number of university students, particularly given that education is a key export industry for Australia. Time series data is also necessary for the efficient and effective planning of transport related policy and programs and for the eventual evaluation of those policies and programs.

There are currently no other national data sources available to collect information on ‘How did you travel to education’.