Advocacy organisation Equality Australia and Newcastle resident April Long,who identifies as non-binary,are co-complainants in the case filed with the Australian Human Rights Commission on Thursday.
April Long (left) with their partner Kelly Coelho,and their son Kaison. Long,who identifies as non-binary,has lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission that the census failed to count them and their family accurately.Supplied
They allege the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the then assistant treasurer Michael Sukkar unlawfully discriminated against Long,their family and other LGBTIQ people by failing to ask questions about sexual orientation,gender diversity and variations in sex characteristics in the census.
Long and their partner Kelly Coelho had been looking forward to their first census as a family,but were instead left feeling “shocked and disappointed”.
Long said it was “a terrible experience from the get go” both because the census did not allow Long to accurately describe their gender identity,and also because it did not record that the couple’s son Kaison had two mothers.
The form asked where Kaison’s mother and father were born,erasing Long’s role as a parent. Kaison is nearly two and his parents believe knowing about other “rainbow families” would foster his sense of belonging.
“I was invisible,Kaison was invisible,my family was invisible,” Long said. “We’re not going to know how many kids are just like Kaison and how many parents are just like me until the next census,and I don’t think that’s good enough.”
Equality Australia legal director Ghassan Kassisieh said the national census should count everyone properly because it yielded crucial information that informed public policy,especially in health and social services.
The complaint argues it is discriminatory that the census did not include a separate question about sexual orientation to capture information about all people who were gay,lesbian or bisexual.
It also criticises the decision not to collect information about sex characteristics to enable the proper counting of people who are born with intersex variations.
Finally,the complaint argues that the wording of the question on sex did not make sense to gender-diverse people and rendered trans men and women invisible.
The 2021 census allowed respondents to select their sex from three options - male,female and non-binary - but did not ask about gender identity. The ABS has not reported the non-binary data.
The ABS defines “sex” as based upon a person’s sex characteristics,such as chromosomes,hormones and reproductive organs,and “gender” as about social and cultural differences in identity,expression and experience as a man,woman or non-binary person. The ABS standard for non-census surveys includes separate questions on sex at birth,gender and variations of sex characteristics.
A statement from the ABS said it was disappointed to hear about the complaint and would provide full support to the commission and seek a resolution with the concerned parties.
The ABS statement said it consulted broadly on the 2021 census,including with the LGBTIQ community,and would start this process for the 2026 census later this year,but the government of the day decided the census topics.
Senate documents from 2019 show chief statistician David Kalisch advised Sukkar as the relevant minister at the time that there was a strong case for a question on non-binary sex,and a limited case for questions on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Sukkar declined to comment,as did a spokesperson for the current assistant treasurer,Andrew Leigh.
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