Sydney:
Australia’s census will ask citizens about their sexuality for the first time, the government said Friday, a policy U-turn aimed at quelling anger from LGBTQ groups.
Supporters have said questions about sexual identity would provide a more accurate snapshot of who Australians are and who they love.
Just a day after his ministers explained the census change had been scrapped to avoid a divisive debate, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Friday that a question about sexuality would in fact be included in the 2026 survey.
Australia’s statistics bureau has developed a new question about sexual orientation, which will now be tested before it can be included in the survey, he said.
“We think that is a common sense position,” Albanese told public broadcaster ABC.
It is compulsory to complete the census in Australia, with fines for those who fail to do so.
But people would have the option of answering the sexual orientation question or not, the prime minister said.
Asked why the government had backed down, Albanese said: “No, this is the first time I have been asked about it.”
He made no mention of plans to include a question about gender identity, however, saying only that there would not be “massive changes” to the census.
Equality Australia, a rights advocacy group, said it was now unclear how the census would affect trans and gender-diverse people, as well as people with innate variations of sex characteristics.
“We welcome the inclusion of a sexual orientation question but the national snapshot of our nation must include all of us, not just some of us,” said Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown.
“The federal government shouldn’t pick and choose those of us who are worthy of being counted.”
Brown said including LGBTQ people in the census would bring Australia into line with other countries that already do so, including Britain, Canada and New Zealand.
“It would be a shame if the government doesn’t trust the Australian public enough to accept that the census needs to gather basic data about our nation for it be meaningful and useful,” she said.
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