Hi ,
Consider this: the overwhelming feedback given in a two-year public consultation process supported removal of the bias from the Census religion question; the Australian Bureau of
Statistics (ABS) agreed to the need for the change so as to enhance “accuracy, relevance and inclusivity”, and proposed a newly worded question; then initial testing of the new question found it was “the most successful question” and “tested sufficiently”; and then the ABS comprehensively rejected the concerns of religious lobbyists about the proposed changes.
So how on earth did we
end up in a situation where the ABS felt it could not adopt the new religion question for the 2026 Census?
Well, through documents that we obtained under freedom of information laws, and through other sources, we’ve pieced the picture together. See our top story. Then, if you’re up for a long read, see the first installment of our The Census Files series on our Rationale
website.
Also, we'll be following proceedings at the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review in Geneva this week. The Australian delegation will be appearing on 26 January. We hope UN member nations will raise our concerns about discrimination against non-religious people. We'll keep you posted.
If you'd like to share your thoughts about articles in the RSA Weekly, email me via: sigladman@rationalist.com.au.
Si Gladman
Executive
Director,
Rationalist Society of Australia