Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody has shared her concerns over the Albanese government’s decision to omit long-promised questions about sexuality and gender from the 2026 census saying the backflip could “strengthen the voice of discrimination”.
She has written to the government asking them to reconsider their stance against counting LGBTIQA+ people in the census saying the decision ““carries serious implications for the health, wellbeing and general equality of LGBTIQA+ Australians and their families”.
The Australian Human Rights Commission previous resolved a discrimination claim against the Australian Bureau of Statistics after the same questions were pulled from the previous census in 2021, that action led to the government issuing a statement of regret.
The government has defended it’s decision with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles telling reporters that the government was trying to avoid divisive debates in society, and Treasurer Jim Charmers declaring the government was protecting LGBTIQA+ people from “nastiness”.
“In the face of rising negative rhetoric, there may be concern about the harmful impacts that another public debate may have on LGBTIQA+ people and their families.” Cody wrote in her letter to Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh who is in charge of the census process.
“However, while we must seek to minimise harm, the answer cannot be to do nothing. LGBTIQA+ Australians and their rights must be protected and supported, as must the rights of all Australians.” Cody said.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has declared the proposed questions about sexuality and gender were not needed.
“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 us 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 case, but I think we’re pretty happy with the settings that we’ve got in place at the moment.” Dutton said.
The Prime Minister is facing a backlash over the decision with a group of eleven crossbench MPs writing to him and calling for the decision to be reversed.
Allegra Spender, Andrew Wilkie, David Pocock, Helen Haines and Nationals MP Andrew Gee were among those urging the PM to take action and restore the questions.
“In the last census, LGBTIQA+ people who were single, trans and gender diverse, intersex, or living in notionally heterosexual relationships were not recognised because the census did not include questions on gender identity, sexual orientation, and variations in sex characteristics,” they said.
They said the government’s decision had left LGBTIQA+ people around the country justifiably feeling excluded, demeaned and angry.
LGBTIQA+ Health Australia and Equality Australia are also calling for the PM to reverse the decision.
