<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>327864</docID> <postdate>2024-08-29 08:50:13</postdate> <headline>Labor resolute as LGBTQI groups condemn census</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-327865" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20220628001674233460-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Topics on gender and sexuality will not be included in the 2026 census. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Dominic Giannini</strong> and <strong>Kat Wong</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>The treasurer has doubled down on a decision to exclude asking about gender and sexuality in the census, saying the government was focused on other things. </strong></p> <p>Australia's LGBTQI community has expressed anger, saying they were being treated as a political football.</p> <p>Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said the choice to not include the question in the 2026 census was to avoid opening "a divisive debate".</p> <p>But LGBTIQ+ Health Australia chief executive Nicky Bath says her community already experiences controversy.</p> <p>"We know at times we have to trade on those divisive debates for us to be able to progress," she told AAP.</p> <p>"When we're now placed in this position where we're surrounded by these divisive conversations for no gain, it's even more distressing."</p> <p>While Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he understood the feedback from the community, "the census is still a couple of years away and our focus has been on other things, including the cost of living".</p> <p>"Our goal here has been to try and avoid some of the nastiness ... in the lead up to the census," he told ABC radio on Thursday.</p> <p>He said he took "people's feedback seriously" but would not reverse the decision.</p> <p>"We know that people are unhappy about this, we don't take that lightly," he said.</p> <p>The LGBTQI community had only asked to be captured in the census, Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown said.</p> <p>To assume all Australians would be angered by a basic acknowledgement of that fact was "insulting", she said.</p> <p>"How counting the queer community in the next census could possibly be responsible for a lack of social cohesion is preposterous at best and victim-blaming at worst," she said.</p> <p>A 2019 report by the federal health department estimates about one in 10 Australians identify as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or gender diverse.</p> <p>These Australians have disproportionately worse mental health outcomes and illicit drug use rates, and experience sexual, family and domestic violence at a higher rate than heterosexual people.</p> <p>Dr Chalmers said the census was only one way to gather data.</p> <p>But without population-level data like socio-economic analyses, long-term trends and geographic information, researchers cannot fully understand what leads to these health disparities.</p> <p>"We're too often political footballs, rather than being seen as human beings who have health and wellbeing needs," Ms Bath said.</p> <p>"For us not to have these questions in the 2026 census will exacerbate that and leave us unable to have the clarity needed to best respond."</p> <p>The 2021 census did not include any questions about sexual orientation or sex characteristics and a complaint was made to the Australian Human Rights Commission about the exclusion of LGBTQI people.</p> <p>This prompted the Australian Bureau of Statistics – which runs the census – to apologise, establish an expert advisory committee and "invest in the support for the LGBTQI+ community... to fully participate in the 2026 census".</p> </body>