00:02Robin Vale is home to nearly 4,000 people, according to the 2021 census.
00:08But locals in the northwest Victorian town know it's more than double that.
00:13Many of us, if not everyone, believe that we have much more population than that number.
00:21A study by the local council used fuel and water usage and pharmacy prescriptions
00:26to estimate a more accurate count.
00:29It showed the population varied between, I think it was 7,900 and 9,600.
00:34Agriculture is the lifeblood of the community,
00:37but its seasonal transient workforce says uncertainty, fear and language barriers
00:43stop them from filling out the census.
00:46How do we make them feel safe around sharing those information?
00:51The census, held every five years, will take place this August
00:54and Robin Vale is desperate to see the town's population captured correctly.
00:59If you're basing all of your service assumptions on a smaller population than what's actually there,
01:04then you're not getting enough resources to provide those services.
01:08Ghost communities like Robin Vale are on the radar of the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
01:13When it comes to those seasonal population fluxes, we haven't yet found a data source that's accurate and reliable and
01:22repeatable
01:23and something that we could use.
01:25The ABS hopes to build on its work from the 2021 census, where it employed community leaders like Takini Tavui
01:33in South Australia.
01:34Organising community gatherings, he read out census questions page by page as it's only offered in English.
01:42And so we'll have five interpreters standing there and I will first, okay, this is the first question
01:46and each of them will interpret into their own language.
01:49It's a daunting task knowing that one night in August could change the fortune of a town.
01:55We want to see that they are acknowledged for the hard work they have contributed to these communities.
02:03And leave a lasting legacy for generations to come.
02:06But...
02:07Right?
02:07You
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