Welcome › Forums › General › Criminal code and census › Reply To: Criminal code and census
Rod, “persons” are legal fictions created by the Government because corporations cannot deal with the living, only with artificial dead entities like themselves.
So when you say “No persons were…” you are telling the truth because only real live people were in the house. The census only deals with persons so it has nothing to do with you.
The census collectors are part timers hired just for that census. I have found in the past they don’t really care as long as they can tick their boxes and go back and show their supervisor all the addresses they have visited and crossed off their lists.
They are not empowered to demand any answers from you, including but not limited to, your names and where you were. They can ask but you are under no obligation to tell them your private and confidential business.
Again on past experience I have found they are happy to write down “residence was unoccupied” or “no one was home on census night” and move on to the next house on their list because they have a lot of visits to make in a short time.
Lockdown rules have nothing to do with them. Be firm but polite and I can’t see them being interested in making an issue of it and reporting you to police (who are they going to report? They don’t know who you are). Also I don’t remember anything in the census act that authorises police involvement anyway!
But what if the police do come and want to know where you were on census night?
You don’t have to say anything and the onus is on them to prove guilt not on you to prove innocence.
What proof do they have? Hearsay from census collector??
If they give you a ticket anyway then all you have to do is use the three step process to defeat it, so why stress over it?