Intersex Community to not be counted in 2026 Census

A question on gender identity and sexuality will now be included on the 2026 census, as the federal government comes under fire from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.

However, the ABS will not be including a question on intersex populations. Treasury Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh said the topic was too technically complex to collect high quality data.

Dr Aileen Kennedy, chair for the board of Intersex Human Rights Australia, says the decision to exclude intersex people is disappointing.

“It’s absolutely vital for meaningful provision of healthcare support for intersex people. It’s really disappointing, particularly because intersex [people are] probably the least understood out of all of the different LGBTI populations.”

If included, the proposed question would have asked if the person had been told they were born with a variation of sex characteristics, sometimes called intersex of differences of sex development, to which the answers were yes, no, don’t know, and prefer what to say.