The Australian Labor Party has caved in and voted with the Coalition government to allow the Australian Bureau of Statistics to fine people over submitting late or incorrect census forms.

A motion in the Senate today was moved by the Greens, with support from independent Senator Jacqui Lambie and Senator Nick Xenophon, calling on the Coalition to give a commitment that the ABS would not fine anyone who did not complete the census.

The motion asked the government to "direct the Australian Bureau of Statistics to issue a statement declaring that no Australians will be fined for failing to complete the census".

The motion came about after the census had to be aborted on 9 August. It was supposed to be held mostly online but the website was taken offline at 7.30pm following what was claimed to be a distributed denial of service attack. This claim has been disputed.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said the Greens and most of the crossbench agreed "that the government's incompetence and inability to properly conduct the census is not an acceptable reason to expose ordinary Australians to fines of $180 per day".

Ludlam, the Greens communication spokesman and co-deputy leader of the party, said: "“Thousands of people attempted to complete the census on census night and during the days that followed, and were unable to. Many people, already concerned about the changes to the census that were snuck through by the government and the ABS, lost any confidence they had left in the process."

He said the Greens had received many reports of aggressive census collectors giving residents incorrect information. "Even worse, many people that have already completed the census have been harassed by census collectors."

The ABS painted an open manhole on the footpath & I fell in & have been stuck down here for days #Censusfail — Topical Reference (@KarlskiB) 12 September 2016

Ludlam said about one in five households had not completed the census, and nothing the Coalition had done "has given those people any confidence that their information will be managed appropriately".

“That the Labor party are siding with this incompetent government, and not with the people facing fines due to that incompetence, is disappointing, though unfortunately not surprising,” he added.