At least one Labor MP has called on the minister responsible for the census to resign after the website was unavailable on Tuesday evening due to a denial of service attack.
But the shadow assistant treasurer, Andrew Leigh, first wants an investigation to discover how the government and Australian Bureau of Statistics botched the census so badly.
The census website was back up at 11.30am on Wednesday but the form could not be accessed because the site was “very busy”.
All inquiries to the ABS about when it would be back to normal were referred to the federal minister responsible for the census, the small business minister, Michael McCormack.
The attacks on the ABS and census will now be investigated by the Australian privacy commissioner.
On Wednesday the ABS chief statistician, David Kalisch, told ABC news radio the census site was shut down “to protect the the integrity of the data” after a denial of service attack at about 7.30pm AEST on Tuesday.
“From the scale of the attack it is clear it is malicious,” he said. “I can certainly reassure Australians the data they provided is safe.”
Asked on ABC’s Radio National whether McCormack should resign or be sacked over the government’s handling of the census, Leigh said: “Absolutely Labor believes there is ministerial accountability.
“But this is less about who keeps jobs and more about getting to the bottom of how the government so badly botched the 2016 census.”
Leigh told Guardian Australia there should first be an independent investigation and McCormack should consider resigning or be sacked after that.
“The points we’re making are the chief statistician job was vacant for a year and the ABS has suffered successive budget cuts,” he said.
Leigh also took aim at the “succession of ministers who have been responsible for the census, none of whom have grabbed the bull by the horns”, referring to his concern they failed to explain changes to hold name and address information for four years, up from 18 months.
The Labor senator Sue Lines did not hold off in calling for McCormack to resign:
Well we should have known the govt wouldn't get this right #CensusFail after they brought us #faketradie #fakecensus Minister should resign
— Senator Sue Lines (@linessue) August 9, 2016
On Wednesday the Australian privacy commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, announced he would open an investigation into the ABS with regards to the cyber attacks.
“My first priority is to ensure that no personal information has been compromised as a result of these attacks,” he said.
Pilgrim said the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner had been briefed on privacy protections and would continue to work with the ABS to ensure it was taking appropriate steps to protect personal information.
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and McCormack both posted tweets about the ease with which they completed the census – in Turnbull’s case just minutes before the census form was shut down:
We filled in the @ABSCensus tonight online - v easy to do. And so important for planning better Govt services & investment for the future
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) August 9, 2016
Just completed #MyCensus online. Great to play my part in shaping Australia's future, just like millions of Aussies. pic.twitter.com/krYWcq5YDR
— Michael McCormack MP (@M_McCormackMP) August 9, 2016
The shadow defence minister, Richard Marles, told Sky News on Wednesday the census had been a “shambles from beginning to end”.
“Whoever is responsible for the hacking last night, contingencies should have been put in place, there should have been an understanding of the amount of volume on the system last night,” he said.
“This has been absolutely hopeless and chaotic, and the census is a very important exercise for Australian public policy.”
Marles said the government had to answer for not just the system failure on Tuesday but the inability to call and long waits calling the ABS hotline to get a paper form.
The ABS said it would provide an update about availability of the census at 9am on Wednesday but none had been provided by press time.
We expect to update you again at 9am on the timing of the resumption of availability of the Census online form.
— Census Australia (@ABSCensus) August 9, 2016
At 10am respondents attempting to fill in the census were still greeted with a message saying: “Thank you for participating in the census. The system is very busy at the moment. Please wait for 15 minutes before trying again. Your patience and cooperation are appreciated.”
