Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has performed a double backflip of Olympic diving proportions, confirming that broader questions about gender and sexuality will now be allowed in the 2026 census.
The first backflip splashed last weekend when Federal Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh said the national Labor Party platform promise to include the questions would not proceed to the testing phase for the Australian Bureau of Statistics(ABS).
The ABS backed this up on Monday with Australian Statistician Dr David Gruen AO providing a statement that said they would not proceed with a test of the questions for the census as there are now no changes to the 2021 version.
The double backflip (saving space for a further one), occurred on Friday morning, after a barrage of fury from the community across the board, Prime Minister Albanese opened the door for the ABS to go back and test the original questions.
“We’ve been talking with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and they’re going to test for a new question, one question about sexuality, sexual preference,” the Prime Minister told the ABC on Friday.
“We haven’t sat down and gone through line by line and said what questions will be asked in the census in two years time, in 2026. That’s a job for the ABS.”
The comments went against his own Treasurer Jim Chalmers who yesterday said the government did not want to add a question out of fear it would become “divisive”.
The decision prompted an internal Labor revolt, including criticism from Assistant Minister Ged Kearney.
Six Labor MPs spoke out against the decision to the ABC, saying including a question told the LGBTI community “you count and you matter”, and not doing so could be a human rights issue.
The ABS has been asked for confirmation of the change in the status of the testing.
Last Updated on Aug 30, 2024
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