Pressure is mounting on the federal government to include gender identity and sexuality questions in the census as crossbenchers add their voices to a growing chorus of discontent. or signup to continue reading Independent senator David Pocock said he was at "an absolute loss as to why the government would reverse course on a commitment from last year to build a better, more inclusive picture of our community". "Clearly the ABS has done the work - they've consulted, they've listened, they've come up with proposed new test questions," he said.
"This decision exacerbates the hurt already felt by many LGBTI Australians following the last census and I just don't understand why the government would raise expectations only to let them down." Crossbenchers signed a joint letter to the prime minister to reverse its decision to exclude questions on gender identity and sexuality. "This decision has left people in the LGBTIQA+ community feeling excluded, demeaned, and angry.
They are being denied the basic right to be recognised and valued," the crossbenchers wrote. "No clear justification has been provided for this so far." Data was needed to adequately design and target policy to support the community, especially in areas such as health and wellbeing, the letter said.
said the party "believes that LGBTIQ+ Australians should be counted as part of the national census". It committed to ensuring relevant data was collected on LGBTQI Australians in the 2026 census and discontinuing randomly assigning non-binary and intersex people as male or female. The Australian Bureau of Statistics - which runs the census - apologised for not including sexual orientation in the 2021 snapshot and determined to invest and support the LGBTQI community "to fully participate" in the next one.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers doubled down on the decision after Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government wanted to avoid "a divisive debate". Dr Chalmers said he understood the feedback from the community but "the census is still a couple of years away and our focus has been on other things, including the cost of living". "Our goal here has been to try and avoid some of the nastiness .
.. in the lead up to the census," he told ABC radio on Thursday.
He shut down suggestions the government would reverse its decision. But LQBTQI communities argue they already face a divisive debate and are being treated as a political football. "We know at times we have to trade on those divisive debates for us to be able to progress," LGBTIQ+ Health Australia chief executive Nicky Bath told AAP.
"When we're now placed in this position where we're surrounded by these divisive conversations for no gain, it's even more distressing." The LGBTQI community had only asked to be captured in the census, Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown said. To assume all Australians would be angered by a basic acknowledgement of that fact was "insulting", she said.
"How counting the queer community in the next census could possibly be responsible for a lack of social cohesion is preposterous at best and victim-blaming at worst," she said. About one in 10 Australians identify as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or gender diverse, the federal health department estimated in 2019. These Australians are disproportionately worse off in mental health, drug use and rates of sexual, family and domestic violence.
Dr Chalmers said the census was only one way to gather data. DAILY DURING PARALYMPICS Get the best news and analysis from the Paris Paralympic Games in a daily update. DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team.
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