In 2021, the census didn’t ask about sexual orientation or gender, leaving many LGBTQI-plus Australians hurt, disappointed and feeling unseen by their government.
It’s one of the questions advocacy groups for queer Australians have been grappling with as the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) prepares its next census.
LGBTIQ+ Health CEO Nicky Bath discusses what should and should not be on the Census, on this episode of The Briefing:
LGBTIQA+ advocacy groups argue that the government does not collect enough fine-grain data on queer Australians to improve physical and mental health outcomes.
On the other hand, The Briefing host Bension Siebert asked whether questions about people’s sexuality and gender identity risk the safety of people who aren’t out to their families.
In recent days, advocates learned that the government will not allow the ABS to include questions about sexuality, sex and gender.
“What we’ve seen today in response to the government’s decision to not include these questions are a number of very disappointed, angry and people feel betrayed by the decision,” Bath said.
Bath said that primary health networks rely on population-level data to decide how to commission services and where to invest.
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