Questions about sexuality and gender identity in census ‘were not appropriate’, says PM

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the federal government has instructed the Australian Bureau of Statistics to cancel tests for new census questions on sexuality, gender identity and intersex status because they were “not appropriate”.

The revelation comes almost a week after the government quietly confirmed it would not include the questions in the next census, despite them being part of Labour’s national platform.

The decision sparked days of outrage within the LGBTQI+ community, leading a handful of Labor Party MPs to call for the decision to be reversed.

On Friday, Albanese appeared to backtrack, saying the ABS would continue to test one new question on sexuality.

However, it remains unclear whether the government will continue to expand questions on gender identity and variations of sexual characteristics, which were previously considered.

The prime minister on Sunday refused to commit to re-introducing the draft questions, but said the government would resolve issues with the ABS and the LGBTQI+ community.

An “identity question” was already asked in the previous census, he said, and “something about sexual orientation should be included as well.”

Confusion over why tests were cancelled

Since the start of the week, the government has given a number of explanations for why it has instructed the ABS not to proceed with testing the extended questions.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday that he wanted to avoid a “divisive” debate. On Thursday, Finance Minister Jim Chalmers said the same. He told the ABC that he feared the issue would be used as a weapon against the LGBTQI+ community.

On Sunday, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth appeared to suggest the questions were too complex to proceed with.

“We as a government were asked questions during the census that were very complicated and the Prime Minister was very clear: we want people to complete the census and we want simple questions that people can understand and answer, and that’s really important,” she told Sky News.

“The census isn’t for another two years and I think we still have plenty of time to answer the question properly.”

On Sunday afternoon, Mr Albanese echoed that reasoning, saying: “It is clear that questions need to be asked that are based on common sense and are easy to understand.”

“The ABS were due to test some questions on Monday… so we postponed that for a while so that we could consider appropriate questions that were easy for people to understand when they got the census,” he said.

“My government values ​​every Australian, no matter who they are, no matter their sexual orientation, race, creed or gender: we value every Australian.”

Coalition senator says questions are ‘reasonable’

The Coalition’s commentary on the issue was also mixed, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton initially telling reporters on Thursday that it was part of the “woke agenda” and that there was no need for more detailed questions.

“If you have the woke agenda, which I think is antithetical to the majority of Australians, then the prime minister should be arguing for that. But I think we’re quite happy with the circumstances we have at the moment,” he said.

The next day, however, he said he was “fine” with asking questions as long as the prime minister had a proposal.

On Sunday, Liberal Party Senator Andrew Bragg said he thought it was reasonable for the census to ask questions about both sexuality and gender identity “in a modern society”.

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“I think the fact that the prime minister has gone to such lengths on this issue is a sign of great weakness in his own leadership,” he told ABC’s Insiders.

“The Labor Party promised this at the last election, so I’m not surprised that the LGBT lobby is very disappointed and feels let down.”

Senator Bragg’s comments followed those of Nationals leader David Littleproud, who said he was “open to any question that can improve the lives of Australians”.

“If we need that data, then we need to ask that question,” he said.

The Greens have indicated they will put the issue to a vote when parliament reconvenes if the Prime Minister does not commit to including gender identity and intersex status in the inquiry.