The Albanese authorities was warned that excluding questions on sexual orientation and gender identification from the census might improve emotions of exclusion within the LGBTQ+ neighborhood and even threat the success of the info assortment train, newly launched paperwork reveal.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics raised issues in ministerial submissions about robust public criticism to scrapping the proposed questions, potential “damage” to relationships with LGBTQ+ professional teams advising on the census and limitations within the high quality of information the census collects.
A trove of paperwork on the federal government’s deliberations on the census, produced after an order from the Senate, reveal Andrew Leigh had authorised the ABS proposal for gender and sexuality questions – earlier than reportedly being overruled by Anthony Albanese. Additionally they element concern from the ABS concerning the authorities’s timeline approving the brand new questions, requesting a choice so they might start testing.
After Labor’s controversial resolution to scrap plans to ask new questions about gender and sexuality within the 2026 census after which a gradual about-face to reinstate the questions after robust public criticism, Liberal senator Dean Smith had requested paperwork from the ABS and authorities ministers concerning the drafting of the census questions. The paperwork, produced to the Senate this week, element ABS correspondence with Leigh, the minister answerable for the census, concerning the want for these new questions.
In 2023, the ABS issued an announcement of remorse over the misery felt by the LGBTQ+ neighborhood over being disregarded of censuses, acknowledging an absence of questions on gender identification, sexual traits or orientation “meant that they felt invisible and excluded”. In submissions to Leigh, the ABS raised concern that dropping the proposed new questions “will mean those feelings are repeated for the 2026 census”.
“There is a risk to the successful delivery of the census if there is public criticism and campaigning while the census is under way,” the ABS mentioned in a submission to Leigh on 16 August, per week earlier than the federal government’s resolution to scrap the brand new questions turned public.
“The ABS expects a strong negative reaction from the LGBTIQ+ community and supportive members of the public. This could reduce the census response rate and quality of the data collected, and draw criticism of the ABS and government.”
The ABS additionally warned that not together with the extra query on gender would result in “continued conflation of sex and gender” in census responses, which they mentioned would result in “data quality limitations” from the train.
It additionally advisable that Leigh conform to the ABS’s LGBTQ+ professional advisory committee being briefed forward of any public announcement of the choice to not add new questions “to help reduce damage to an important working relationship”.
The submission states that Leigh instructed the ABS on 13 August that the federal government “does not support” the brand new questions and needed the identical ones from the 2021 census – a choice the ABS mentioned created “risks to the ABS and government”.
However in a 15 July submission to Leigh, the ABS had advisable the assistant minister conform to the advisable matter adjustments for the 2026 census, and that he write to Albanese searching for his approval – suggestions to which Leigh had agreed.
The 9 newspapers reported in August that Albanese had “put his foot down” and opposed the brand new questions, overruling Leigh.
That 15 July submission, marked “urgent” and searching for response inside two days, mentioned the ABS required a authorities resolution on the proposed subjects by the tip of July “to mitigate unacceptable risk to a successful 2026 census”. The ABS mentioned its “preference” was for the federal government’s census resolution “to be made public as early as possible”, citing “increasing public interest, particularly from the LGBTIQ+ community, on what will be collected”.
after e-newsletter promotion
The federal government resolution to initially scrap the brand new questions got here in August.
The ABS has been contacted for remark.
In an announcement, an Albanese authorities spokesperson mentioned: “the Government sets Census topics. The ABS came to the Government with potential changes it planned to trial, including changes it had not recommended for the 2026 Census. The government paused the process to get it right.”
“Assistant Minister Leigh advised on 8 September the Government would set a new topic of ‘sexual orientation and gender’ for the 2026 Census.”
After the August resolution to scrap the brand new subjects senior ministers defended the stance saying the ABS additionally collected information about LGBTQ+ folks in different methods. Albanese mentioned “the census isn’t the right vehicle to engage with the community across a whole range of issues. It’s not the be-all-and-end-all… We now have data collection in a range of ways.”
The ABS, in briefs ready for the federal government for parliamentary query time, famous the pattern sizes of its ABS family surveys “are too small” to provide helpful information about transgender, gender various, lesbian, homosexual or bisexual Australians – including weight to the necessity for devoted questions within the census.
These briefs additionally state that two rounds of public session for 2026 census subjects had discovered “strong public value” in asking the sexuality and gender questions, and that preliminary testing offered “confidence they can be successfully implemented”.
