Review of 2021 Census Topics - Australian Bureau of Statistics

Response 524618809

What is your submission about?

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This submission covers a number of Census topics, and is provided to provide additional clarification and evidence to support local government policy and planning decisions.

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Population

Sex and gender

Households and families

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Income and work

Unpaid work and care

Education and training

Disability and carers

Housing

Location

Transport

Cultural diversity

Religion

Assessment Criteria 1

1. This topic is of current national importance.

1) Suggest including a question asking respondents to identify both their sex and gender.
Local government is tasked with supporting local communities to improve the liveability of the region under their jurisdiction.
Including just one or the other of sex or gender limits the ability to target programs to specific needs, and makes it difficult to differentiate between a resident's biological structure, and the gender with which they identify.
With multiple local governments across Australia, access to this information may potentially be used nationally to design programs to better support residents.

2) Similar to 1) above, suggest including question regarding a respondent's sexual orientation – LGBTQIA - for the same reasons.

Assessment Criteria 2

2. There is a need for data from a Census of the whole population.

The topic of gender and sexual orientation is one that has been trending 'up' in the last 20 years.
By better recording the changes in people's identity for specific areas, and comparing to the average for the nation, there is the ability to identify the attractors and detractors that classify small areas. This in turn allows business and government to tailor efforts to better support minority groups.

Assessment Criteria 3

3. The topic can be accurately collected in a form which the household completes themselves.

The current question regarding 'sex' of respondent can be easily augmented with the addition of a question on 'gender'. If necessary, an explanation can be provided defining the difference between the two topic items.

Assessment Criteria 4

4. The topic would be acceptable to Census respondents.

Respondents always have the option of answering or not answering specific questions.
The growing acceptance and identification of 'other' sexual orientations in society means the question will become less intrusive or offensive in successive Censuses.

Assessment Criteria 5

5. The topic can be collected efficiently.

The efficiency of the processing of the addition of 'gender' to the Census questions is dependant on how the question is asked. While providing options to identify as any of the LGBTQIA spectrum would ultimately be informative, if necessary it could be reduced to a limited number of options.

Assessment Criteria 6

6. There is likely to be a continuing need for data on this topic in the following Census.

There is growing acceptance of 'different' gender alignments and sexual orientations. Time series data would provide evidence not so much for the changing orientations, but the growing recognition and acceptance.