Josh Burns has become the first Labor MP to break ranks and call on the government to reverse its decision to ditch gender and sexuality questions in the census.
The Macnamara MP joins the crossbench, the Greens, the sex discrimination commissioner and advocacy groups in calling for the Albanese government to include sexuality and gender questions in the next census, after assistant treasury minister Andrew Leigh announced on Sunday the questions would be dumped.
Burns said he had spent the days since the decision was announced making representations internally for Labor to include the questions in the 2026 census, which he said was necessary to ensure everyone was counted.
“Macanamara is home to many LGBTIQA+ community members and I love being their MP and as part of that, I feel a responsibility to stand up for them,” he said.
“I’ve made it clear that the way we govern needs to be inclusive and the census is an important tool to gather data and feed that into government systems and services.
“For that to work the best it can, we need as few blind spots as possible, which is why I am asking the government to reconsider this decision.
“It is not too much to ask for people to be counted.”
Burns said he was breaking ranks as he believed the government had an opportunity to correct a wrong decision.
Labor MP Peter Khalil, from Victoria, also voiced his disagreement with the party line, saying “I personally believe that questions regarding sexuality and gender identity should be included on the 2026 census, as an important evidence base for policy development.” He added he had been making his views known to leadership.
Ged Kearney, who is assistant minister for health and aged care, issued a statement about the importance of the census to inform policy and service delivery and paint “a picture of modern Australia in all its beauty and diversity”. While she said she was “working to ensure these views are represented within the Albanese Labor Government” she stopped short of condemning the decision not to include the questions in the census or saying she disagreed with the decision.
Consultation began in early 2023 and in December 2023 the ABS finalised its proposed new topics, which included gender identity and sexual orientation.
The government has not given a concrete reason for its decision to drop the questions.
On Wednesday the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said the government decided not to add questions on sexuality to the 2026 census to avoid “divisive” community debates.
Marles said the government had opted to take the existing set of questions to the next census rather than adding five new topics – including sexuality – as had been proposed, out of concern for social cohesion.
“We are doing that because we do not want to open up divisive debates in the community now,” Marles told journalists on Wednesday.
Peter Dutton said he believed the existing questions in the census have “stood us well as a country” and accused the Labor government of having a “woke agenda” which he thought was “at odds with the vast majority of Australians”.
Nicky Bath, the chief executive of LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, who has been critical of the government’s decision to drop the questions, has requested a meeting with Dutton over his comments.
“Rather than blaming so called woke agendas, Mr Dutton would be better to be asking what the financial cost will be of suboptimal health and wellbeing services and program planning if these four simple questions are not asked,” she said.
The government’s decision has prompted backlash from members of the LGBTQ+ community who have questioned why their identity would be considered “divisive”.
Privately, several Labor MPs have expressed discomfort at the decision, and questioned Labor’s strategy of attempting to limit “culture wars” with the Coalition, while opening up Labor to attacks from the Greens on the party’s vulnerable left flank.
“You have to wonder why, in 2024, party leaders are so focused on just the Coalition, when voters are not,” one Labor backbencher said.
“These decisions are not going to win any seats at the next election, but they risk losing them.”
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, appeared to leave the door open for the decision to be revised by noting the census “is still a couple of years away”.
“I do genuinely understand the disappointment that people have had this week,” he told ABC radio on Thursday morning. “[But the] census is still a couple of years away, and our focus has been on other issues, including some of the issues we’ve talked about today like the cost of living.
“It’s not unusual for the ABS to test and tease out questions in advance, and that’s what’s prompted all of this now, but the census itself isn’t until 2026.”
