Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says the government’s decision to remove long-promised questions about sexuality and gender from the 2026 census is because the government does not want to avoid “divisive” community debates.

Marles told reporters on Wednesday that the government had dumped five new questions proposed for the census, including questions about sexualiuty, out a need to promote social cohension.

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We are doing that because we do not want to open up divisive debates in the community now,” Marles told journalists.

“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,” he said. “That’s why we are taking, in broad terms, the set of questions that went to the last census.”

The deputy Prime Minister denied that removing the questions would lower the quality of the information obtained by the census, but this statement has been widely condemned by health groups and LGBTIQA+ rights groups who argue that more information is needed.

Independent MP Allegra Spender has described the government’s decision as appalling, especially as it comes a year after the government expressed regret about leaving LGBTIQA+ people out of the 2021 census.

LGBTIQA_ rights activist Alistair Lawrie said the comments from Marles were “jaw-dropping”, accusing the government of abandoning Australia’s LGBTIQA+ communities out of a fear of disagreeing with opposition.

Writer Kaz Cooke said Marles comments were nothing short of cowardice.

“Divisive debates we’ve had: whether girls should be educated, whether women could vote; whether governments should fund schools; whether immunisation is necessary; whether priests should be charged with attacking children. This is cowardice & abrogation.” Cooke posted to social media.

Equality Australia says Albanese government is repeating the mistakes of the Morrison government

Equality Australia have noted that the government’s reasoning of promoting social cohesion was the same excuse given last month for the abandonment of their election commitment to provide greater protections for LGBTIQA+ students and staff working in religious based schools.

“Why must LGBTIQ+ communities wear the fall-out of ‘divisive community debates’ when the topic of conversation is not only our legal protections but also our lives and right to exist,” Anna Brown CEO of Equality Australia said. 

“What the government is saying to us is that we are not worth having the hard conversations for, and they are dumping us in the too hard basket.” 

Brown said it was “the government’s job to govern for all Australians” and its decision underestimated the Australian public. 

“The notion that acknowledging the existence of LGBTIQ+ Australians in the census would be a threat to social cohesion is, frankly, absurd,” she said. 

“And it is insulting to all Australians to think that they would be in some way angered or divided by such a basic acknowledgement of fact.”  

Equality Australia made a human rights complaint against the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the former federal government after the 2021 census failed to properly count LGBTIQ+ people.  

“The reasons for considering legal action are the same today as they were in 2021, when we filed a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission alleging several breaches of the Sex Discrimination Act,” she said.  

“Our legal action was followed by a statement of regret from the ABS last year for the hurt and harm caused when the census failed to properly count our communities in 2021. 

“By blocking these vital census questions, the government is effectively denying the right of LGBTIQ+ people to be counted and repeating the mistakes of the former Morrison government. 

“Governments cannot plan for services and make decisions about our futures when there is no accurate data on where we live, what our jobs are, our health issues, where we go to school and what our families look like.”