Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has partially backed down on the government’s decision to stop questions about sexuality and gender being included in the 2026 census.
This morning the PM announced that a question about sexuality would be tested by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but questions about gender would not make the cut.
The decision has resulted in another wave of criticism from LGBTIQA health and rights groups, with the government accused of abandoning transgender and intersex Australians via their latest decision which has been labeled “policy on the run.”
The Labor party’s national policy framework outlines including questions about sexuality and gender. Similar questions were previously blocked by the Morrison government – a move that was loudly criticised by Labor at the time.
On Sunday the Albanese government announced a backflip, saying it would also block the questions from being added. The move saw a wave of condemnation from LGBTIQA+ health bodies, rights groups and prominent figures – including Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody.
Senior government Ministers defended the decision arguing that they were protecting LGBTIQA+ Australians from “divisive debates” and “nastiness”. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and Murray Watt, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations all defended the decision as being for the good of the LGBTIQA+ communites.
Labor backbenchers called for the PM to change his position
The Prime Minister however soon faced a revolt within his own party as his own MPs voiced their opposition to the decision. Victorian MP Josh Burns was the first to break ranks on Thursday, later in the day Peter Khalil also voiced his support for the questions being added the census.
Khalil’s statement of support was particularly damaging for the government as he has been appointed as the government’s Envoy for Social Cohesion. While some members of the government were attribution the decision to omit the questions promoting social cohesion, their own member charged with the specific responsibility was saying the opposite.
Khkalil said he recognised that the government’s decision was causing “hurt and pain” to Australians. The MP said there were always “bad actors” looking for ways to divide the nation and after weighing up the different points of view he’d be lobbying the Labor leadership to revisit the decision.
With hours several Labor MPs were publicly questioning the decision. Alicia Payne, Michelle Ananda-Rajah, Jerome Laxale and Ged Kearney all raised their concerns. As Assistant Minister for Health Kearney has been charged with implementing the government’s significant investment in LGBTIQA+ health research and initiatives, and was being asked how this would be deployed without the census information about the LGBTIQA+ communities.
With a growing number of his own MPs questioning the decision Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a rethink during an appearance on Melbourne radio. The PM said the government had not gone line by line through the census, and ultimately it was the reasonability of the Australian Bureau of Statistics what would be asked.
“They’re going to test for a new question, one question about sexuality, sexual preference,” he said. “They’ll be testing, making sure as well that people will have the option of not answering it.”
PM’s latest decision is also being questioned
Just.Equal Australia says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s latest position on the issue does not go far enough because it appears to exclude transgender and intersex people.
Just.Equal spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said the census needs to count everyone.
“When Anthony Albanese walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge during World Pride, it was with all of us, not some of us.”
“Trans and gender diverse people, and people with innate variations of sex characteristics, have significantly worse health outcomes than other Australians.”
“It is vital the census count them so governments know what resources are required to improve their health and wellbeing.”
“We can’t support a question about sexual orientation without additional questions that allow trans and intersex people to be seen and the challenges they face acknowledged.”
“We will write to the Government urging it to endorse the fully-inclusive ABS standards for LGBTIQA+ data collection.”
Earlier this week, Just.Equal Australia said the Prime Minister should not be invited to pride events, including the Sydney Mardi Gras, until he reverses LGBTIQA+ exclusion from the census and protects LGBTIQA+ people in faith-based schools from discrimination.
“I don’t think invitations should be sent yet”, Croome said.
LGBTIQA+ rights advocate Alistair Lawrie told the ABC that the questions relating to intersex and transgender Australians also need to be included.
“We know that trans and gender diverse people, and people with innate variations of sex characteristics, often have different health requirements, and can have significantly worse health outcomes, than other Australians,” he said.
Lawrie had been a member of the ABS expert committee that was formed after the organisation issued a statement of regret after the same questions were removed from the 2021 census. Lawrie resigned from the committee following the announcement that the government would be blocking the questions.
“By excluding this data, it means that governments can pretend that these problems don’t exist and don’t need to be addressed,” he told the ABC.
Opposition also divided on the issue
The debate over whether LGBTIQA+ Australians should be specifically measured in the census has not only caused division with the Labor party, but Coalition members have also provided a range of responses.
On Thursday Opposition leader Peter Dutton said the questions were not needed and part of a “woke agenda”. Liberal colleague Keith Wolahan disagreed saying the questions should be added.
“I don’t see the harm in adding that. I know in other areas, like in asking who veterans are that that was only recently added, and that’s been really useful. So I think more data is always useful. And so I’m not sure what the dispute is or the concern is here from a government’s perspective.” Wolahan told ABC radio National.
Tasmanian Liberal Briget Archer also described the debate around the census as frustrating.
“It’s just information,” she told the ABC on Friday. “If you don’t collect that information, then you can’t use it.”
LGBTIQ+ Health Australia (LHA) CEO Nicky Bath said she was seeking an urgent meeting with Dutton in the wake of his response to the issue.
“We will be requesting a meeting with Peter Dutton, Leader of the Opposition to discuss his comments today. From this commentary, it appears that, he has forgotten that LHA and other stakeholders worked with the Morrison government and the Australian Bureau of Statistics to create the 2020 Standard for Sex, Gender, Variation of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables, which the then government supported to be included in all government national health and wellbeing surveys.
“I am surprised that Mr Dutton is not considering the economic impact to the nation, of not collecting the best possible data to make sound fiscal resourcing decisions, for health and wellbeing services planning.”
“I think people living in Australia support good healthcare for all and not just for some. Rather than blaming so called woke agendas, Mr Dutton would be better to be asking what the financial cost will be of suboptimal health and wellbeing services and program planning if these four simple questions are not asked.”
