LGBTQI people are welcoming plans to count them in the next census after the government initially scrapped plans to ask a question on sexuality. or signup to continue reading But advocates say the entire queer community needs to be included, with questions on trans and gender-diverse people. The government shouldn't "pick and choose" who was counted, Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown said.
"We welcome the inclusion of a sexual orientation question but the national snapshot of our nation must include all of us," Ms Brown said. Trans Justice Project director Jackie Turner said the community needed the data to determine how many people were included, where people were and "what our health and service needs actually are". Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used annual LGBTQI awareness day Wear It Purple to announce a full 360 in Labor's position - with the decision to tally the queer community in the 2026 census after pulling the plug on its initial pledge to do so.
Labor frontbenchers had said the government scrapped its intention to add the question to avoid a "divisive" and "nasty" fight. The Australian Bureau of Statistics will run a trial on "one question about sexuality" and people will have the option not to answer it, Mr Albanese said. He denied the government had been forced to back down.
"This is the first time I've been asked about it," he told ABC radio on Friday after being out of the country for a Pacific forum , with his ministers defending the decision to scrap the q.