Australia’s government has faced significant backlash over its decision to exclude new questions about gender and sexual orientation from the upcoming 2026 census, leading to warnings of a potential boycott from LGBTQ+ advocates.
The center-left administration had initially proposed including these questions to capture Australia’s population’s diversity better.
However, the government reversed course, with Finance Minister Jim Chalmers citing concerns about sparking divisive public debates.
“We’ve seen how these issues can be weaponised against members of our community, and we don’t want to see that happen,” Chalmers told ABC.
He noted that alternative methods for gathering this data exist beyond the census.
The decision has been met with strong criticism. Independent Sydney lawmaker Alex Greenwich argued that excluding these questions would be “deeply hurtful” to LGBTQ+ individuals, who have historically faced marginalisation.
The move has intensified calls from some community members to boycott the census, raising concerns about the representation of this group in national statistics.
