To effectively address workplace issues, ‘we need better data’

The circus that has become the decision to include questions or not regarding LGBTI people in the 2026 census has continued, as the Albanese government has refrained from involving transgender and intersex Australians in the questionnaire.

The inclusion of questions on LGBTI people in the 2026 census was a meticulously planned endeavour that was originally orchestrated following the last major census back in 2021.

Previewing the data that was going to be made available from these questions pertaining to the LGBTI community would have been a great asset to dispelling workplace harassment, assault, and discrimination, according to the Diversity Council Australia (DCA).

However, the Albanese government, in the lead-up to the rollout of the 2026 census, decided to scrap any mention of LGBTI questions in the upcoming census to avoid triggering a “divisive culture war”.

Instead of inheriting a supposed culture war for including such questions, Albanese has instigated a baffling circus that has featured numerous flip-flops.

After mulling over the decision to exclude LGBTI questions from the census altogether, Albanese back-flipped, deciding that he would, in fact, include such questions – albeit very watered-down revisions of the original selection that were supposed to enter the testing stage.

The original questions would’ve expanded over all individuals in the LGBTI community; however, in this version, these questions will be based on sexuality and sexual preference, pertaining to lesbian, gay and bisexual Australians. Therefore, transgender and intersex Australians will be left out.

“Diversity Council Australia joins Equality Australia and other advocates calling on the federal government to reconsider excluding trans and gender-diverse people, and people with innate variations of sex characteristics, from the 2026 census,” said the DCA in a statement.

“While we welcome the government’s announcement to proceed with testing questions about sexual orientation, we urge the government to continue testing questions about all members of the LGBTIQ+ communities.”

The questions that were originally posed to enter testing, in collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, would have covered all members of the LGBTI community, which would have, in turn, increased the data collection that is extremely sought after by organisations such as the DCA.

The overall magnitude of the influx of data that the census would have collected could have had a huge effect in effectively addressing the acts of workplace exclusion, harassment, and discrimination – which can only happen with large quantities of available data.

The available evidence, including our own research, makes it clear that to effectively address workplace exclusion, harassment, and discrimination, we need better data on these diverse groups,” the DCA said.

“LGBTIQ+ Health Australia points to the significant health and wellbeing impacts of collecting this data. Research highlights the many risks facing young LGBTQA+ young people, and trans and gender-diverse people in particular. These relate to their health and wellbeing, suicide risk, homelessness, and domestic and family violence. These are serious issues that go beyond ‘first-world concerns’, as one member of the coalition has suggested.”

Although understanding the sentiment of wanting to avoid a culture war that would manifest in bigotry and vitriol targeted at marginalised communities, the DCA believes that the government, in this aspect, should show courage and follow through with its original plan.

“The irony is that the most vulnerable groups amongst LGBTIQ+ populations who need these services are precisely those the government doesn’t want to count,” the DCA said.

“In the face of a worldwide backlash against diversity and inclusion, specifically targeting trans and gender-diverse people, it is not entirely surprising that the government is being cautious. However, the planned strategy to consult with experts to carefully formulate and test these questions is precisely the approach needed to ensure that even complex concepts are clearly understood by everyone.

“There will be debate. Some of it will be divisive. But there will also be education and an opportunity for many marginalised people to see themselves ‘counted in’ to the Australian population.”