LGBTIQ+ Health Australia (LHA) today congratulates Prime Minister and Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh, who is responsible for the Census, for demonstrating strong leadership by listening to experts, swiftly considering the advice and deciding to include a new topic on gender and sexual orientation in the 2026 Census.
Nicky Bath, CEO said, “Today is a great outcome for the health and wellbeing of trans and gender diverse people and people with diverse sexual orientations across Australia. The announcement from the Albanese Government confirming the 2026 Census will capture questions on gender and sexual orientation, which means that for the first time, health and wellbeing service and program planning will have access to much-needed data to inform their decision-making.”
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) did not recommend that a question on innate variations of sex characteristics progress due to how it performed through the testing processes.
Dr Morgan Carpenter, CEO of Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA), said, “This is a devastating development, which means that the next census will be out of step with the 2020 ABS Standard and new standards for health and medical research. It means that we won’t get much needed information on the health and wellbeing of people with innate variations of sex characteristics (intersex/differences of sex development).”
The public discourse relating to people with innate variations of sex characteristics has demonstrated this is poorly understood by media and government, and this has perpetuated widespread stigmatising and harmful attitudes.
“We saw harmful attempts to count our population in the 2016 and 2021 censuses, and in 2013 government gender recognition guidelines. The recent media reports have framed the question on innate variations as about gender and sexual orientation. We don’t have funding to deliver psychosocial support services, let alone address the stigma and discrimination that people with innate variations of sex characteristics experience,” he concluded.
LHA and IHRA look forward to continuing to work with the ABS and the Albanese Government to explore how data can be best captured on people with innate variations of sex characteristics and to ensure adequate resourcing for community-controlled services.
Nicky Bath concluded. “From the perspective of gender and sexual orientation, today’s announcement means that having the 2026 Census data and the new LGBTIQA+ Health and Wellbeing 10 Year National Action Plan in place we will have the best chance of tackling the health disparities of LGBTQ+ people. LHA would like to thank the overwhelming support of everyone who has contributed to the decision made today; this includes parliamentarians, member organisations, partners, the community, media, members of the public, and finally, the ABS whose partnership we greatly respect and value.”
