Review of 2021 Census Topics

The City of Darebin is located in the inner north of Melbourne, Victoria with a diverse population of 158,553 residents who speak more than a 100 languages and come from more than 100 countries. We provide more than 60 discreet services to all of our residents.
ABS Census data has helped us better understand our community demographics and needs, and helped shape our service delivery to encourage the best possible outcomes for our communities.

Council would welcome the possibility of the next Census containing questions that more accurately reflect the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) residents of Australia.

We acknowledge the attempt of the 2016 Census to follow the Australian Government Guidelines on the Recognition of Sex and Gender and the ABS Standard for Sex and Gender Variables and the aim of the 2016 Census to make it possible for all Australians to report their sex/gender in a way not limited to ‘male’ or ‘female’.
We think that, following the 2016 iteration and the results of the pilot test, the option to select “other: please specify” should be added in both the online and paper forms as a default and not as a special request making it extremely unlikely that most people (beyond those already in the know and extremely committed) would request a tri-option form.

Recommendation1: that the sex/gender question be phrased “Is the person male, female or other?” as a default in both the online and paper forms and the option to select “Other: please specify” as an answer to this be the standard (as per the ABS Standard for Sex and Gender Variables).

Council also argues that sexual orientation is a separate category that needs to be included in data collection. Sexual orientation can be defined as an affectionate, emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to, and/or intimate relationship with, individuals of a particular sex. Thus, sexual orientation might be characterised as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Knowing about people’s sexual orientation allows to capture the L,G,B population more accurately that the reporting of same-sex couples (which is only a small part of it).

Recommendation 2: that Sexual orientation be included, as a category, in the Australian Census (and all other statistical collections) and include: heterosexual, lesbian, gay, and bisexual.

Data around sex, sexuality and gender diversity is needed from a Census of the whole population because there is no reliable information on factual prevalence - only estimates, and with same-sex marriage and greater visibility of GLBTIQ and non-binary gender representation in society, we think it is of paramount importance to understand how many residents represent this community and their living circumstances. We already have policies and programs to assist these communities but having small geographic areas and the ability to cross-tab this data with other census information will help further refine these programs.

We believe that the recommendations we made in regards to gender and sexuality will be easily understood, collected and while most people will continue to be Male or Female, it will allow others who do not subscribe to a binary gender to be represented.

We believe that with greater visibility and acceptance of GLBTIQ and non-gender conforming people, this topic is no longer likely to be considered intrusive, offensive or controversial.

Questions around gender identity can be easily included in the current sex question. As for sexuality, a further question can be included which should not require extensive processing, significantly cost more or require a lengthy explanation.

As our society continues to embrace and accept LGBTIQ individuals, it is important to track how society changes over time and this might be reflected in the increased willingness for people to embrace their sexuality/gender identity and note it in the Census. It will provide a significant measure of societal progress, and in time will provide a true baseline for how diverse all of our communities really are.

There are no other sources of data other than a small sample survey we conduct every 5 years that does ask about gender diversity and sexuality. Unfortunately this result is an under count because unless you have a Census of everyone, you will not be able to accurately represent a minority community in a sample-based survey.