CENTRAL Victorians have been urged to take up their keyboards (or pens) to take part in a census that may be more important than ever.
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The 2021 census will take place mainly online, but print forms are also available for order, or through face-to-face pop up sites.
Census inclusive strategies director Georgia Chapman said it was vital to collect data about Australians, as the pandemic had changed society.
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She said for Bendigo it would be particularly interesting to pin down whether the region had experienced population growth from people leaving metropolitan areas.
Ms Chapman said most Australians would receive a letter inviting them to participate, with field officers dropping off forms to remote areas.
She said the Australian Bureau of Statistics expected about 75 per cent of people would complete the census online.
For anyone requiring support the ABS would have pop up locations with census staff available to help on certain dates, Ms Chapman said.
In Bendigo this includes the Bendigo Library, and Woolworths stores at the Marketplace and Lansell Plaza, on a range of dates.
Multicultural Arts Victoria will have census staff available to help fill out the form in Dinka and Arabic on August 13, while the Bendigo Neighbourhood Hub will have support in Karen on August 11 and 12.
Ms Chapman said services to support people filling out the census were also available on the census website, including phone translation, and audio files of all questions.
She said Braille and large print census forms were also available, as was an easy read guide to help people with some disabilities.
Ms Chapman said data gathered in the census was vital, as it was used to plan everything from roads, schools and hospitals to playground locations.
For councils the data is vital to helping them predict the future, and to plan for it.
City of Greater Bendigo chief executive Craig Neimann urged the community to complete the census, saying its data was important for council planning.
Mr Niemann said demographic data, such as area's gender split, or family make-up helped council decide what sort of services to provide where.
He said the data could also help the council lobby state and federal government for services in the community, for instance roads and transport.
"It'll be really interesting to look at the last year or so of data," Mr Niemann said.
"What's changed in the last year due to the pandemic: people wanting to shift to regional areas, change of lifestyle. Has that meant an increase in people who want to be in a regional setting like Bendigo?"
The census will take place on August 10. Find out more about the census at: census.abs.gov.au/
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