Labor’s 11th-hour decision on LGBTQ+ census questions prompted weekend scramble, documents reveal

Officials at the ABS cancelled a scheduled media briefing as the result of an 11th-hour decision to reject proposed questions on sexuality and gender diversity in the 2026 census. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP

The Albanese government’s last-minute rejection of proposed questions on sexuality and gender diversity in the upcoming 2026 census sent bureaucrats into a weekend scramble, new documents show.

In the late hours of Friday 23 August and Saturday 24 August, officials at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) agreed to cancel a scheduled media briefing on Monday 26 August and the rollout of its “large-scale” test census to 50,000 households from Tuesday 27 August as a result of the 11th-hour decision.