Census night is here and for the first time Australia is officially counting who's LGBTQA+

Census night is here, and for the first time in Australia's history, the form is asking about sexual orientation and gender alongside the standard demographic questions.

Every household needs to complete the 2026 Census tonight, Tuesday 11 August, whether that's one person filling in details for everyone present or individuals completing it themselves. The headline change is the addition of two new questions for anyone aged 15 and over: one on gender, with options including man, woman, non-binary or a written in term, and one on sexual orientation, covering straight, gay or lesbian, bisexual or another term people can specify themselves.

The question on sex has also changed. It's now specifically framed as "sex recorded at birth," a shift designed to work alongside the new gender question so the Australian Bureau of Statistics can produce clearer data on cisgender, transgender and gender diverse populations.

This has been years in the making. LGBTIQA+ advocacy groups have pushed for these questions for more than a decade, arguing that without population data, governments can't properly plan health services, understand discrimination, or track how many people are actually affected by policy decisions that concern them. Previous censuses had no way to count LGBTIQA+ Australians at all, which meant service planning relied largely on estimates and smaller surveys.

It isn't without criticism. Intersex advocates have pointed out that intersex status still isn't captured on the form, meaning one part of the community remains invisible in this data set even as others are counted for the first time.

Filling in the Census is compulsory for every household in Australia, with fines possible for those who don't complete it. Whatever your view on the new demographic questions, tonight's the night to actually get it done, LGBTIQA+ inclusion questions and all.