TRANSCRIPT:
Before the last election, Labor made a promise: it would include questions on sexuality and gender identity in the 2026 Census.
But now, the government says the Census changes won't be happening.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says they have taken the decision in order to avoid a fear campaign.
"We don't want to open up a divisive debate in relation to this issue. 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. And that's why we're taking, in broad terms, the set of questions that went to the last census to the next one."
But if the government had hoped to avoid an intense debate, that isn't what has happened.
Queer activist Shane Jenek, known for his drag queen persona Courtney Act, says Mr Marles and the Labor Party only have themselves to blame.
"Deputy P-M Richard Marles says he doesn't want to cause divisive debate on this issue and to Mr Marles I say, 'girl, you just did!' The census already asks questions about marital status, Indigenous status, health and disability, religion. The census is all about visability and we know that LGBTQ+ Australians suffer poor mental health as twice the right as our heterosexual counterparts, and that is largely due to stigma and discrimination that we're witnessing right now by the Australian Labor Party."
Other members of the community have also condemned the decision.
Chief Executive of Equality Australia, Anna Brown, says other Australian communities are already counted and adding LGBTIQ Australians to the dataset was no different.
She says to do otherwise diminishes their existence.
"We deserve to be counted because, unless we're counted we're not visible. The government is blind when it comes to making decisions about the programs and funding that it dedicates to meeting the needs of our communities. This government should and must govern for all Australians and, in order to do that, they need to know how many of us there are out there in the community and where we live."
The federal health department estimated in 2019 that about one in 10 Australians identify as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or gender diverse.
Labor said in its 2023 national platform that there was a need for updated data relevant to the L-G-B-T-I-Q plus community.
Associate Professor Morgan Carpenter, the executive director of Intersex Human Rights Australia, says the decision not to include sexuality and gender questions in the Next Census is therefore a missed opportunity.
"For people with innate variations of sex characteristics there are two issues here. One is the harm that is caused by being counted in ways that are disrespectful and inappropriate. In terms of the benefits of having data, health and wellbeing, and knowing the actual economic, social and health circumstances of people in our population at a population-wide level is incredibly important data that we've never had before."
Crossbench MPs - and even a sole Labor MP, Josh Burns - have also called for the government to abide by its original commitment.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody has joined those calls, saying the decision will strengthen voices of discrimination and division.
"I was very surprised to hear of this decision. This is a census, it's a national census. It is about cold hard information and that's what we need to know to make policy decisions. What I'm hearing from the community is a deep sense of betrayal. That the Labor government had made a commitment. It shows a lack of commitment to the issues that are important to the LGBTIQ+ community and that's really concerning."
Dr Liz Allen is a demographer and lecturer at the Australian National University.
She says questions on sexuality and gender have an obvious upside - and a failure to ask them signals a discomfort with the progress that has been made on L-G-B-T-I-Q plus issues.
"Census allows us to not only identify need but it sends a clear signal that this community matters. Census is not just about statistics, it's about affecting Australia's social change. By not including sexual orientation in the census, we are denying that Australia has moved forward well beyond the 1950s version of what we once were."
Still, the government has doubled down, Treasurer Jim Chalmers telling the A-B-C that, in the wake of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, a debate surrounding the census could become harmful.
"I take very seriously the feedback that we’ve got, I don’t dismiss it. My fear, and one of the things that’s guided us here and me here, if I’m frank, is that we’ve seen the way that these issues can be weaponised against members of our community, and we don’t want to see that happen."
Their position has found support from other quarters.
The Australian Christian Lobby has publicly opposed the new questions, saying the government did not need to know "what people choose to do in their bedrooms" and the queer community was already counted as Australians.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has also agreed with the decision.
He says there was never any need for changes.
"I think the set of questions that we've got at the moment, the long term, way in which we've collected this data has stood as well as a country. If you've got the woke agenda, which I think is at odds with the vast majority of Australians, then the Prime Minister should argue that that case. But I think we're pretty happy with settings that we've got in place at the moment."
