Jim Chalmers says the government was trying to avoid a backlash against the LGBTIQ community when it decided not to proceed with adding questions about sexuality and gender to the census.
Jim Chalmers said that the government's goal in deciding not to proceed with adding new questions to the census was to avoid "nastiness".Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government was trying to avoid a backlash against the LGBTIQ community when it decided not to proceed with adding questions about sexuality and gender to the census.
"My fear, and one of the things that's guided us here ... is we've seen the way these issues can be weaponised against members of our community and we don't want to see that happen," he said.Labor has moved to dump proposed questions that would create the first estimate of Australia's LGBTQIA+ population, with advocates saying it renders the community "invisible".
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also waded into the debate on Thursday, stating that he felt the current census questions were satisfactory. "And it is insulting to all Australians to think that they would be in some way angered or divided by such a basic acknowledgement of fact."That commitment followed a push from Equality Australia and community member April Long, who submitted a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission that claimed the
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