Switchboard Victoria Statement on 2026 Census
Illustration by Jacq Moon
The federal government’s decision to not include new questions relating to gender identity, variations of sex characteristics and sexual orientation in the 2026 Census will maintain poor data recording, limit evidence driven decision making and is disappointing and retrograde for LGBTIQA+ communities.
We fear that the federal government has underestimated how devastating this news is to the thousands of Australians, who want best practice data recording, understand the role of baseline testing, and/or are people who care about and/or importantly "live in dwellings" with LGBTIQA+ people and wish to see them counted in 2026 as LGBTIQA+ children, partners, parents and loved ones.
Why does the Census matter?
The collection of census data is fundamentally different from other datasets, particularly sample surveys, when recording baseline population statistics.
Census data provides a complete, accurate snapshot of the entire population at a given time, ensuring that all communities are accounted for in demographic analysis, policy-making, and resource allocation. This makes the census an essential tool for truly understanding the needs and dynamics of the whole population.
Unlike sample surveys, which gather data from a subset of the population and then extrapolate findings to represent the whole, a census collects information from every individual. This comprehensive approach eliminates the potential biases and inaccuracies that can arise from sample surveys, and importantly, can help measure the accuracy of sample surveys by the provision of a baseline population to measure against.
Sample surveys, while useful for specific purposes, may miss critical variations and trends within the population, in particular the marginalised, underrepresented and/or rural communities.
Switchboard would like to acknowledge the tireless work by those from LGBTIQA+ communities who have fought for recognition and change following the 2021 Census.
We also wish to thank and congratulate the ABS for establishing the LGBTIQA+ Expert Advisory Group for the 2026 Census which Switchboard was represented on, which had excellent buy in from our diverse LGBTIQA+ communities, and had progressed the topics of gender identity, sexual orientation and variations of sex characteristics to be shortlisted for the 2026 Census. We are hopeful that this decision is not final and that at the very least some changes will be made to existing questions to better support Rainbow Families to be counted.
After all the work achieved to progress this issue, Switchboard shares deeply in everyone's disappointment, and recognises this will include many within the ABS.