Treasurer Jim Chalmers has defended the Albanese government’s decision to drop questions about sexuality and gender from the 2026 census, saying the government is ensuring that LGBTIQA+ people are protected from “nastiness”.

Speaking to ABC Radio National on Thursday morning the Treasurer said the government had a clear goal to protect LGBTIQA+ people and “try and avoid some of the nastiness that sometimes accompanies that in the lead-up to the census”.

“My fear, and one of the things that’s guided us here… is we’ve seen the way these issues can be weaponised against members of our community and we don’t want to see that happen,” he said.

“We want to avoid the nastiness and weaponisation of these issues.” he said.

His comments follow those of Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles who said the government is focused on social cohesion and avoiding “divisive debates” in society.

The decision has been widely criticised by LGBTIQA+ rights group, health bodies and even some members of the government.

Victoria MP Josh Burns broke ranks to call on the government to rethink the decision.

“Macanamara is home to many LGBTIQA+ community members and I love being their MP and as part of that, I feel a responsibility to stand up for them,” he said.

“I’ve made it clear that the way we govern needs to be inclusive and the census is an important tool to gather data and feed that into government systems and services.

“For that to work the best it can, we need as few blind spots as possible, which is why I am asking the government to reconsider this decision.

“It is not too much to ask for people to be counted.” the MP said, sharing that he’d spent the last few days advocating for a reversal of the decision.