ALMOST 600 people declared their religious faith as "Collingwood" in the last national census - and the AFL football team wasn't listed as a faith. 
While the compulsory survey, held every five years, has provided weird and wacky responses, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer said it was also an important tool to chart Australia's history and help shape its future.
The census has provided vital demographic and statistical information and underpins the setting of electoral boundaries and the distribution of government funds, Ms O'Dwyer said.
A cloud hung over the 2016 Census of Population and Housing earlier this year with speculation the Abbott Government was considering scrapping the Australian Bureau of Statistics-run survey to save money.
The 2011 census cost $440 million.
But Ms O'Dwyer will announce today that the 17th census will go ahead on   August 9, 2016.
The Federal Member for Higgins said the best part of next year's census is the ability for Australians to complete its 61 questions online for the first time. "The move to a digital census will reduce red tape for households and businesses and deliver savings compared with previous censuses," Ms O'Dwyer said.
The Government is expected to save $100 million with the greener census, she said.
Almost 10 million dwellings and about 24 million people will be surveyed - the largest ever Australian census Delivery of materials will cover 320,000km by road - that's nine times around Australia - but 230,000km less than previous censuses thanks to the switch to digital. The ABS will publish more than three trillion cells of data from the census information.