We write to you as organisations working with and for LGBTIQ+ communities across Australia to express our dismay and frustration at the federal government’s recent census decision. 

As you know, the census is the most comprehensive snapshot of the country and yet in 2026 it will fail to capture how many LGBTIQ+ people there are in Australia or where they live. 

As a vital tool and source of information for policy makers, the census tells the story of how we are changing as a nation and yet in 2021 it didn’t count LGBTIQ+ Australians who were single, trans and gender diverse, or those with variations of sex characteristics. 

The national conference of the Australia Labor Party resolved to repair this and committed to counting our communities properly in 2026. 

Now, not only has the government missed an opportunity to finally reflect the real diversity of the Australian community, but it will fail to gather crucial information to inform its own planning, financial assessment, policy development and service delivery. 

This is despite repeated calls for this baseline population data from service providers, health entities, government departments, bureaucrats, businesses and academics, who rely on the census to tell them about our country's economic, social and cultural make-up. 

How can they or any government plan for services that impact our lives, including vital health care and local support for individuals and communities, when there is no accurate data on where we live, what our jobs are, our health issues, where we go to school and what our families look like. 

This decision ignores the pervasive health and wellbeing disparities LGBTIQ+ communities continue to live with and evidence showing how such data gaps will negatively impact on people’s lives for many years to come. 

It also ignores all the painstaking work that has been done by our communities and the Australian Bureau of Statistics over the last decade, and more recently in preparation for the 2026 census, as well as the statement of regret the ABS issued last year recognising the hurt and harm caused when the census failed to properly count our communities in 2021.  

Every person and every family deserve to be counted.