Labor’s bizarre census backflip reveals great data about this weak government

With apologies to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, I must admit I had not turned my mind to the August 2026 census before this week.

For most of us, it’s a quaint little box-ticking exercise that comes along every five years – rarer than the Olympic Games – and doesn’t warrant much bother. The idea it might ask a couple of questions about gender and sexuality seems almost a given. After all, why not?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Sydney’s Gay Mardi Gras last year.Credit: Nikki Short

Well, now we know. Doing so risks opening up “divisive debates”, according to Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, while Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned the issue could be “weaponised” against LGBTQ people.

Thanks for the anguish. But as others were quick to point out, LGBTQ people and organisations are the ones calling for the census to ask these exact questions. Count us, they are saying. We need the data.

In abandoning this commitment, the government made the bizarre decision to undo Labor Party policy, antagonise a significant minority group and embarrass the ABS, which last year issued a “statement of regret” about several LGBTQ matters in the last census.

On Friday, though, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commenced something of a backflip, saying the ABS was investigating how it might ask a new question – just the one – about sexual preference.

What Albanese seems to be saying here is the census will acknowledge LGBTQ sexualities but steer clear of the thornier gender-identity issue. It will count queer people, but not trans people.

We’ve seen this show before. It was Scott Morrison’s Liberal government that in 2022 decided to advance anti-discrimination protections for gay students at religious schools, but not trans students. After rebel Liberals crossed the floor, the government ultimately dumped the bill.

That whole issue has somehow gone unresolved since same-sex marriage was legislated in 2017. This year, Labor also walked away from its pledge to protect gay and trans students, blaming the Coalition for not offering bipartisan support.

“The last thing that Australia needs is any divisive debate relating to religion and people’s faith,” Albanese said. Sound familiar?

The significance of that backdown shouldn’t be overlooked given the issue loomed so large after the marriage equality debate and the Australian Law Reform Commission was clear in its recommendations.

It’s funny how it’s always LGBTQ issues that have to be sacrificed to maintain the peace. But taken together, these decisions tell us a lot about where Albanese and his government feel they sit in the national conversation. It tells us they are hyper-sensitive to any criticism that they are not singularly focused on the cost of living, and do not believe they can walk and chew gum at the same time. It tells us Labor is scared of Peter Dutton, and does not think it can win the argument for its own policies.

And it tells us this is a government that is fundamentally operating from a position of weakness rather than strength.

The election will be held before May. A government that’s frightened some people might object to a census question two years from now is a government that must be petrified of its own shadow.

There’s other evidence of this, too. I’ve tuned into a few Albanese press conferences lately and was struck by how testy he was with journalists – complaining about the tone of questions, ordering people to wait their turn, playing the cross school teacher herding the rabble. It’s unbecoming, and a sure sign of a rattled, nervous leader.

I don’t doubt Labor holds genuine concerns about bad actors fomenting hate on LGBTQ issues. When I was reporting on the same-sex marriage postal survey in 2017, I watched up close as Labor blasted the Coalition for subjecting LGBTQ Australians to a divisive public debate about their right to get married.

“Have a read of some of the things which are said about us and our families,” Penny Wong said in one emotive Senate speech, “and then come back here and tell us this is a unifying moment.”

But that was in the context of a loud and vicious circus over redefining marriage that had dominated Australian politics for years. Does anyone seriously think a few questions about gender and sexuality in the census would elicit a similar response?

Senator Penny Wong after the result in the same-sex marriage survey at Parliament House in 2017. Credit: Andrew Meares

You can see why the government would not want to get bogged down in long and complex lines of gender-identity questioning that some activists might seek. But it surely can’t be that hard to thread the needle. Scotland started asking about transgender status in its 2022 census; England and Wales asked about gender identity in 2021 – both in simple terms.

And should bad-faith actors drum up a culture war, it can’t be that difficult to prosecute the case that collecting data on sexuality and gender is a valid – and important – census task.

It’s interesting to compare Labor’s risk aversion to the current US Democrats. Tim Walz, the vice-presidential nominee, observed last year as Minnesota governor: “You don’t win elections to bank political capital – you win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.”

I’m not sure how much political capital is tied up in the census. (Sorry again, ABS). But to see the government’s instinct is to run away from LGBTQ issues speaks volumes not just about its priorities but about its confidence.

Michael Koziol is Sydney editor.