Star Observer: Census 2026: What Changes Affect LGBTQ Australians
Michael Barnett OAM
The 2026 Census Includes LGBTQ People For The First Time. What Can We Expect?
The 2026 Australian Census will, for the first time, include questions designed to capture data on sexual orientation and gender identity, marking a significant shift after years of advocacy from LGBTQIA+ organisations.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australians aged 16 and over will be asked about both their gender (including options such as man, woman, non-binary, or another term) and their sexual orientation, with categories such as straight, gay or lesbian, bisexual, and “another term,” alongside options to decline to answer. These questions are part of a broader move to improve the visibility of LGBTQIA+ people in national statistics, following earlier criticism that their absence in previous censuses left major gaps in understanding population size, health needs, and service demand.
While earlier plans were scaled back at points in 2024, the government ultimately confirmed that gender identity and sexual orientation would be included, with data to be released in stages from June 2027.
What will change in the census 2026 for LGBTQ people?
Emily Walter, Census National Spokesperson explains to Star Observer that the 2026 census, will include two new questions, a question on gender and a question on sexual orientation, for Australians aged 16 years and older. Alongside this, there’s been a change to the question about sex as well, which has been updated to specifically refer to a person’s sex recorded at birth.
“Importantly, in all of these questions, in the gender and sexual orientation question, people can select prefer not to answer. There are check boxes of some common terms like straight, gay, or lesbian, bisexual, but it also importantly has that box where people can put in free text,” says Walter.
However questions about Intersex markers and identity have not been included in this year’s census. Walter says that this year is a “really important first step” and that the census is continuing to work with their expert advisory committee on further inclusions.
Is the census private and how is the information used?
Questions around LGBTQ identity can be very personal, especially when related to gender and sex, such as having to record “sex at birth”. However, Emily Walter confirms that all the information collected is protected, private, and de-identified as belonging to a specific person after its collected.
“We have to protect the information. It’s required through the Privacy Act, but also through the secrecy provisions of the Census and Statistics Act that we’re bound by. So we’re actually never allowed or able to release information in a way that’s likely to identify an individual. Their data is contributing to a greater aggregate of information. It’s not registering them in any way as an individual with those circumstances.”
Walter goes on to say that she recognises that some of these questions can be uncomfortable, particularly where you’re asking a person’s sex at birth where that’s potentially different to that person’s gender.
“That can’t be used to identify if a person is in that position, their data is contributing to a greater aggregate of information. It’s not registering them in any way as an individual with those circumstances.”
Should questions about Intersex status be added to the census?
Executive Director of InterAction Morgan Carpenter was a member of the ABS expert advisory group, and said he was put in a difficult position when it became clear that the ABS had recommended government against inclusion of a question on innate variations of sex characteristics in the census.
Why is the census 2026 important for the LGBTQ community?
“I think the fact that government has supported this is fantastic. It starts to bring us in line with other international censuses, so you know other countries and really an important step for what the census can do to reflect that contemporary society,” said Emily Walter
“The census updates provide a real opportunity to provide insights on the experiences of the LGBTQ plus community. To support the development and delivery of targeted health and social programmes. So when you combine this information with the breadth of other kind of information that’s collected in the census, you can start to build a really good picture about small population groups.”
Walter says that the census collects information on employment, education, health, whether there are long-term health conditions, and all sorts of characteristics, “which creates such a great, rich data set that can now reflect the LGBTQ+, community and to analyse and understand the experiences of both communities that then support either at a national or local level policy planning and service delivery.”