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What is the Census?
The Australian Census is a statistical snapshot of Australia, which is measured every five years. The census will next be conducted on 8th August, 2006. The census is carried out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a federal government organisation. It is illegal (with penalties up to $1000) to either:
- not fill in a compulsory question; or
- to answer a question incorrectly or in a misleading manner.
What's the Problem?
Currently, the Australian census has a question (Question 3 on the 2006 census) which asks "Is the person male or female?" and provides two options, one of which must be selected). This excludes those who identify as neither female or male (including those who identify as trans, intersex or genderqueer).
The ABS have advised that since the forms for the 2006 census have already been printed, they are unwilling to change them for this year. This is reasonable, however the ABS are still refusing to collect statistics on those who don't identify exclusively as 'male' or 'female'.
The Current ABS Policy
The ABS have advised that:
...intersex or androgynous people don't have to tick either box.
"The ABS has no intention to force or coerce respondents to lie about their sex," said Dave Nauenburg, ABS director of Population Census Development and Field Organisation.
My advice to intersex people is that they can complete the sex question correctly by ticking none of the boxes provided for the question, and writing in the word 'intersex', or 'androgynous'.
However, the ABS is not keeping statistics on intersex people this year.
ABS spokesman Paul Williams said a computer program will assign a sex to the small number of people who fail to answer that question.
This is sourced from an article which may be found here. More information (including the exact wording of the question) can be found on page 36 of the document here.
Limitations of the Policy
It is unclear who would be classified as "intersex", but given the wording of the question, I don't see how they can exclude those whose body/brain or physical/identity aren't exclusively either female or male. In this sense, anyone who identifies as trans or genderqueer could also identify as intersex (as far as the ABS is concerned).
The fact that the ABS refuse to collect statistics since a "small number of people [will] fail to answer that question" is appalling, and it is unclear how computer assignment will work. Even if done randomly (the most sensible option), it fails to acknowledge a significant proportion of the population. While estimates vary wildly, most estimates are in the range of 10,000- 40,000 people. This is precisely something which could be 'accurately' recorded (presumably the point of a census) if:
- statistics were collected; and
- the ability to indicate neither female nor male was widely advertised.
It is the belief of the author that this policy is discriminatory, especially since the ABS collect extensive statistics on religions, even those with relatively few members, such as Brethren: 19,353 and Oriental Christian: 36,324 (2001 Census Data).
What Can I Do?
You can call the Australian Bureau of Statistics to complain on 1300 135 070 (from within Australia), or email them at client.services@abs.gov.au.
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Created and maintained by: P. Fijn
Last Updated: 30/05/08
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