Key Points
- The federal government is being criticised over a decision not to update categories in the 2026 Census.
- LGBTIQ+ advocates have been calling for more questions to reflect different genders and sexualities.
- The Australian Bureau of Statistics had been working with an advisory committee to develop more inclusive questions.
Members of the LGBTIQ+ community say they feel betrayed by the federal government over a decision not to include more categories for gender and sexuality in the 2026 Census.
The decision comes despite the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) working with an LGBTIQ+ Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) to develop and propose new questions for inclusion.
Anna Brown, CEO of the advocacy group Equality Australia, said these questions would have provided crucial information about the Australian community.
"The federal government has betrayed LGBTIQ+ people around Australia who will again be rendered invisible in 2026 because the Census won't ask appropriate questions about who they are and how they live," she said.
Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown said betrayed LGBTIQ+ people around Australia feel "invisible and demeaned" due to not being included in the Census. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
Many LGBTIQ+ people were not counted in the 2021 Census because it did not include questions on gender identity, sexual orientation and variations in sex characteristics.
Equality Australia and April Long, who is non-binary, over the Census and its omission or framing of questions.
Long said they decided to make a complaint after being unable to complete the Census and answer questions about their family.
They said the form included several questions about the father of the child, and the couple were unable to list themselves as both being mothers.
The online form was dynamic and stepped through questions, while the paper census form was static with all questions presented in full.
"There was also, for me as a non-binary person, the inability to clearly express my gender identity," Long said.
"We launched that claim after that Census because we thought it was important that [when] my son is starting school, I'd be able to tell him how many kids are just like him, and we'd be able to have national-level data that tells us how many LGBTQ plus families there are."
The ABS later issued a acknowledging the hurt and distress the Census had caused, and vowed to work with the LGBTIQ+ community ahead of the 2026 Census to "minimise the risk of further harm".
But on Sunday, Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh confirmed there would be no change.
"While the Australian Bureau of Statistics tests change from time to time, it is the decision of the government that there will be no change to the topics in the next Census, which will be held in 2026," he said in a statement.
April Long (left) made a complaint to the ABS after the 2021 Census over the lack of suitable questions for LGBTIQ+ families. Source: Supplied / April Long
'Still feeling excluded'
Long, who has been working with the ABS to develop and test proposed questions, said they were in tears when they heard the news that categories wouldn't be updated for the 2026 Census.
"It was a really tough day yesterday, and [we're] still feeling really excluded. As a country, how can we still have this be the case?" they said.
"That was the saddest thing, looking at my son who's now almost four ... how much longer does he have to wait to get this right? To just be able to fill out a form says who his family is."
LGBTIQ+ Health Australia and Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA) have also criticised the government over the decision.
In a statement, they said the lack of inclusion would adversely impact health incomes.
"Without meaningful inclusion in the 2026 Census, we won’t have good, reliable data on the health and circumstances of people with innate variations of sex characteristics," Dr Morgan Carpenter, CEO of IHRA, said.
"Worse than this, if the next Census is the same as the last, it will collect data that is meaningless."
In a statement, the ABS told SBS News the decision on topics to be included in the 2026 Census was made by the federal government.
The ABS confirmed it had worked closely with stakeholders to design and test potential content for the 2026 Census before the government made its decision.
"The ABS will continue to work with the community and the EAC in designing questions that are easy to answer, inclusive and collect high-quality data on the topics decided by Government," the statement said.
-Additional reporting by Australian Associated Press
