Ex-Minister Sukkar, ABS Face Discrimination Complaint Over Failure To Count LGBTQI Families In 2021 Census

On Census night in 2021, when April Long and their partner Kelly sat down to fill the form, they, like many other rainbow families in Australia discovered that the national survey had completely invisibilised them. 

Now, Long and national LGBTQI advocacy group Equality Australia have filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission that then Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar and the Australian Bureau of Statistics unlawfully discriminated against LGBTQI families. 

“On Census night, my partner Kelly and I were really excited – we had a special dinner and really made a big deal of it,” Long said in a statement. Long and Kelly’s son Kaison was then eight months old. 

‘We Wanted Our Family To Be Counted’

“We weren’t just doing the Census for us, but for him. We wanted our new little family to be counted. As we were filling out the form, it kept going from bad to worse. Kaison has two Mums – I’m Mumma and Kelly is Mummy – but the form asked where Kaison’s mother and father were born. Our family wasn’t included at all – I felt excluded, and it made Kaison’s family invisible”, said Long.

“Our initial reaction was shock. We were unable to complete it accurately. It didn’t capture us, it made us feel invisible and it didn’t count us.”

According to Equality Australia, like Long, Kelly and Kaison, thousands of other rainbow families experienced discrimination on census night. 

“Thousands of rainbow families like April’s were asked insensitive and offensive questions that assumed they were in a heterosexual relationship, and many LGBTIQ+ people were simply ignored by the failure to ask appropriate questions about us and our lives at all,”  said Equality Australia’s Legal Director, Ghassan Kassisieh.

Discrimination Complaint Against Minister, ABS

The 2021 census also missed out on an opportunity to collect information about the number of rainbow families in Australia and where they are located. 

“The 2021 Census could have provided crucial information about LGBTIQ+ people to inform the response of governments and non-government organisations to better address our communities’ needs, particularly in health and social services. Instead, it failed to ask the right questions to properly count LGBTIQ+ people,” Kassisieh said. 

Equality Australia is a co-complainant in the case and alleges that the former minister and ABS violated provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 “because of the failure to ask appropriate questions on sexual orientation, gender identity and variations in sex characteristics, and the manner in which Census 2021 was conducted.”

Count Us In 2026

“Requiring LGBTIQ+ people to complete a mandatory census that was ill-fitting at best or rendered them invisible at worst was offensive and harmful. But it was also bad public policy. Ultimately, this was an act of discrimination by our government against us, and it must be addressed,” said Long, explaining the reason they decided to file the complaint. 

“We hope that this complaint will help build the case for the newly elected Albanese government and the ABS to right the wrongs of the past and to ensure that LGBTIQ+ people in Australia are properly counted in the next Census,” added Kassisieh.

Equality Australia has started a new campaign ‘Count Us In 2026’ calling on the Albanese government to ensure LGBTQI people are counted in the next census in 2026