Fury over one Australian Census question

The questions Australians will be asked as part of the 2026 Census have been decided and there’s been outrage about one omission.

There will be no questions about sexual orientation in the 2026 Australian Census.

The questions Australians will be asked as part of the 2026 Census have been decided and there’s been outrage about one omission.

The national snapshot takes place once every five years in Australia and affords every household the opportunity to tell the story of how the country is changing over time.

But on Monday, the bureau’s head statistician David Gruen announced there would be no changes to the 2021 questionnaire and that a trial of new questions had been scrapped.

It means, importantly, that a controversial decision not to include a question about sexual orientation will not be overturned as advocates had hoped.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles addressed journalists on Wednesday saying the government did not “want to open up a divisive debate in relation to this issue”.

He continued: “We’ve seen how divisive debates have played out across our country, and the last thing we want to do is inflict that debate on a sector of our community right now.”

But Nicky Bath, CEO of LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, has written a letter to Labor asking for a please explain. She says there are massive consequences for not including the question and that it amounts to discrimination.

“The government has provided no public explanation of its decision, which has been made without adequate transparency and accountability,” Bath wrote to MPs.

She went a step further, calling the decision “shameful” and “baffling”.

Previous Census questionnaires included questions about sexual orientation.

Questions for the annual snapshot have been decided.

“This is a devastating and baffling decision that will retain the significant data gaps needed to address the pervasive health and wellbeing disparities that we continue to live with,” she said.

The controversy started in 2021 when the Australian Bureau of Statistics made the decision to omit the question about sexual orientation.

It later made a statement saying it would work closely with LGBTQI+ communities to make sure there was a result that better included them.

“The ABS has worked, and will continue to work, closely with the LGBTIQ+ community in the development of the Census, surveys and the design of statistical standards and classifications,” the ABS said in a statement at the time.

“The ABS is committed to processes and approaches for the 2026 Census to minimise the risk of further harm.

“The ABS is aware that for some respondents, the absence of questions on their gender identity, variations of sex characteristics or sexual orientation meant that they felt invisible and excluded when completing the Census and in the Census results produced.”

A committee was assembled to help form new questions but on Monday that went out the window.

“Given the government’s announcement yesterday that topics will remain unchanged from 2021, I have made the decision that the upcoming test will not proceed,” Dr Gruen said.

“The test would have included topics that the government has now decided will not be in the 2026 Census.”

It means there will be no questions about the sexual orientation of Australians until at least 2031 when the ABS take the pulse of the nation again.