Has Australia Lost Trust? Our Deep-Dive into the Census

<p>It&#39;s Census Night this coming week (Tuesday, August 11th) and what for most Australians used to be a quinquennial event, evoking a sense of civic duty and pride, has for many turned into yet another data and privacy gathering exercise foisted upon us amongst a landscape of cameras, facial recognition, digital-I.D. and movement tracking. Public sentiment about the census has shifted in large part from national pride to cynicism, skepticism and distrust. So we take a look at what your legal obligations are and why, for many, census night may be fraught with anxiety and uncertainty. </p><p>We also check in on the Price of fuel now that the so-called &quot;relief&quot; the government so gEneROusLy gave us by temporarily removing part of the fuel excise has disappeared - oh, and they upped it at the same time, because, you know ... inflation. </p><p>And we reflect on the hundreds of comments we received from our Homesteading channel this week in response to our deep dive into the freedoms that so many of us supposed we had - and it turned out we didn&#39;t. Like giving away excess eggs, or saying no to a particular utility or service. </p><p><br></p><p>Join the conversation, become a Rustic Spirits Member:</p><p>https://rusticspirits.me/patreon</p><p><br></p><p>Want more? Join our Email List: </p><p>https://rusticspirits.me/email<br></p><p><br></p><p>Fact-Check: From the Karl Stefanovic Show - podcast, Malcolm Roberts actually said government spending is about 28% of the economy — not government jobs. That figure checks out: it comes from IPA research showing government spending across federal, state and local levels hit a record 28% of GDP in FY2023-24, up from 21% a decade earlier. Separately, Alexander Downer made a different point about jobs specifically — that around 80% of new jobs created recently have come from the public sector or public-dependent sectors — and that one checks out too, backed by Ai Group&#39;s analysis of 2024 ABS data.</p>