Rank-and-file officials at the Australian Bureau of Statistics have "grave doubts" that the same-sex marriage postal vote can be done properly in the time-frame ordered by the Turnbull government, the public servants' union says.
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Some ABS workers fear the postal survey will be a "rush job" that risks repeating last year's Census debacle, while others are worried it will not deliver an accurate picture of Australians' opinions of same sex marriage, according to the Community and Public Sector Union.
Even the bureau's boss has conceded to his staff that doing the job by November 15 is "challenging" although Chief Statistician David Kalisch insists the ABS is up to the task.
One of his deputies, Jonathan Palmer , was dismissive in a statement on Wednesday about the union's survey, saying it represented only about 5 per cent of the bureau's workforce.
Mr Kalisch confirmed on Tuesday that the Department of Human Services had been brought in to run a plebiscite call centre and that the ABS itself had formed a task force to tackle the challenge of conducting an accurate postal survey.
But the CPSU has surveyed its members at the ABS and found 74 per cent of respondents did not believe the bureau was the right agency for the job.
More than 40 per cent of the union members had no confidence the task could be undertaken properly in the allotted time-frame and another 38 per cent were not sure.
The vast majority of the 150 public servants, from a total workforce of more than 3500, who responded to the union's questions said the ABS did not have enough staff to conduct the postal and that it would "negatively impact on other work programs".
More than 72 per cent of respondents said they were worried about the quality of the data and more than 82 per cent believed the exercise would hurt the bureau's reputation both in Australian and internationally.
One public servant, speaking on condition of anonymity said they worried about the time frame for the plebiscite.
"It will be a big rush job and the ABS has shed too many staff in recent times since the Census, so I don't think the agency will be up to the job in such a tight timeframe," the ABS employee said,
Another worker was even less optimistic.
"A large, high-profile, heavily politicised, controversial project, outside our sphere of expertise, to be done in a very short timeframe using methods known to be statistically unsound, outside the legal framework that normally covers voting in Australia," they said.
"How can this possibly end well?"
But Mr Kalisch told his workers on Tuesday that he was confident, with an upbeat message to his staff rejecting media "aspersions on the integrity, professionalism and capacity of the ABS."
"This is our opportunity to show what the ABS can deliver," the Chief Statistician wrote.
"We will deliver quality statistics back to the community about their views on marriage law."
The CPSU, which has been against the involvement of the ABS in the survey from the start, says its survey reveals the grave doubts held by bureau staff over the whole exercise.
"ABS staff are highly qualified professionals and know full well what work the agency should and shouldn't be doing," the union's Deputy Secretary Melissa Donnelly said on Wednesday.
"This survey makes it clear that many of them have grave reservations about whether the ABS is the right agency to run the postal plebiscite."
"The Turnbull Government should listen to these concerns."
