ABS informed of Census gender question changes just days before test
The ABS was planning to send out its Census test, including new sexuality and gender topics, just days before the Prime Minister said the questions "weren't appropriate".
The government told the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) it was scrapping plans to include new gender identity questions in the Census less than two business days before a test involving 50,000 households was due to take place.
The whiplash speed of decision-making over Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s aborted plan not to include new gender identity and sex questions is laid bare in a series of documents released by the ABS under freedom of information laws.
One document, an executive brief signed off on by Australian Statistician David Gruen, indicates the ABS received formal advice from the government on Friday 23 August to make no changes to the topics for the 2026 Census. The decision was announced publicly on Sunday 25 August. However, Albanese reversed course a week later, confirming that questions relating to sexuality and gender identity would be included.
As late as 23 August, ABS employees were sharing finalised communications collateral, including media releases, with Assistant Treasury Minister Andrew Leigh’s office. This included a media release planned for national distribution on 27 August, titled “ABS to conduct Census Test in September,” as revealed in earlier correspondence between the ABS and Treasury officials.
