Overview of ABS consultation webinar

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) hosted an online webinar on 7th March, 2026. It provided an overview of the 2026 Census topic review process, the assessment criteria and how to prepare a high-quality submission during the consultation. An audience question and answer session followed the presentation.

Presenters included:

• Georgia Chapman, Acting Program Manager, ABS
• Andrew Tyson, Acting Director, 2026 Census Content, ABS
• Tanya Hornick, Strategic Partnership Manager, ABS

The seminar was recorded, and will be available on the ABS website and the ABS YouTube channel from the 13th March.

Questions can be sent to census.content@abs.gov.au

You can also subscribe to updates from the ABS.

Evalyn's take from the session?

Someone asked a question about gender identity, and they made a point of saying that it was not up to them what questions were included. They said they would make a presentation to parliament, and it is then up to the minister to what was included. This does not correlate to what is said in the legislation which governs the ABS, which states that the authority to include questions falls to the Chief Statistician of the ABS. 

The point was also made that higher priority targets may result in some questions being dropped, in order to ensure the census doesn't become too complex and that costs are not exaggerated. Preference would be given to questions were the data could be interpreted easily, had national relevance, and where there was no existing sources (such as from the private sector, or I assume from other countries which could be extrapolated). They want to build an evidence base on the need for the data, and are not really interested in gauging what the general public believes is important to include. 

The question and answer session felt scripted, and they focused on answering  questions that most people would not ask. They talked about random "how to" information, such as how to submit / change a submission or where to find information. All of this could have been answered by referring to the website, and didn't warrant wasting valuable "air time" being addressed. 

I asked a question early in the session which was not answered. This is despite identifying myself in the question, and the ABS knowing that I organised this petition. I asked:

In 2021, questions about the LGBT community were dropped because of a perceived backlash on possible topics on gender identity and sexual orientation. The ABS did not fight for the LGBT community, and instead capitulated to ministerial bias. What guarantees can you provide that history will not repeat itself?

Now, even more so than before, I feel compelled to ensure this petition reaches the floor of parliament. Hollow promises don't cut it for me, and personally I would prefer legislated mandatory inclusion of LGBT data collection within the census so that the personal bias of politicians has no weight. Participate in the process by all means, but by relying solely on the ABS process we won't know if the questions will be included until 2025. By then they will already be printing materials, and further changes will be impossible.

Did you watch the seminar live? Did you submit a question which wasn't answered? Did you also get the impression that we were being prepped for bad news? Post it in the comments below for everyone to see.