Albanese backflips on census question following almost a week of backlash
Amy Remeikis
As we just flagged, Anthony Albanese has told Melbourne ABC radio there will be a question on sexuality in the census, contradicting his assistant minister’s announcement that the proposal for new questions had been dumped.
After almost a week of backlash against the decision, which included at least six Labor backbenchers publicly criticising the move, the prime minister said questions would be included in the census, if they passed through the standard ABS testing procedures.
There will be a question in the census if it is successfully tested by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
My government has been focused on the issues that we’ve just been discussing [cost of living].
We haven’t sat down and gone through line by line and said what questions will be asked in the census in two years time, in 2026. That’s the job for the ABS.
Key events
Albanese says one census question to be on sexuality
AAP has more details from the prime minister’s interview on Melbourne ABC radio earlier this morning.
Anthony Albanese said the Australian Bureau of Statistics is developing a question about sexuality for the national snapshot.
They’re going to test for a new question, one question about sexuality, sexual preference. They’ll be testing, making sure as well that people will have the option of not answering it.
The prime minister denied the government had been forced to back down from omitting questions on sexuality in the census.
As Sarah Basford Canales reported earlier this week, the proposed new test questions would have asked about gender, sexual orientation and variations of sex characteristics while others would have centred on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural identity and reasons for moving in the last 12 months.
Businesses to unleash unsupervised AI within 3 years
New research has found that most Australian business leaders expect to use generative AI tools without human oversight within three years, AAP reports.
But the study also found only half of Australia’s big businesses had clear AI strategies in place, and many executives still held concerns about the technology’s cost and the way it handled data.
Software firm Salesforce revealed the findings today in its third survey into the use of generative AI in Australian businesses. YouGov conducted the survey for Salesforce, quizzing 288 c-suite executives about AI.
It found the use of generative AI among participants had doubled every six months, rising from 19% in July 2023 to 40% in February this year, and to 83% in July.
More than two in every five executives said they used generative AI tools all the time at work, and more than half said they considered themselves highly proficient in the technology.
Almost all executives surveyed (98%) also said they would be confident to let AI tackle operations without human supervision or oversight within the next three years.
The federal government has yet to release mandatory rules for the use of AI technology in high-risk settings, although a Senate inquiry on 16 August heard voluntary guidelines could be expected soon.
Victorian SES receives thousands of calls for assistance this week amid damaging winds
A Victorian SES spokesperson has also been speaking with Melbourne ABC radio and said there had been 321 calls for assistance amid the damaging winds.
260 of these were regarding fallen trees, and 51 for building damage.
Since 2pm on Tuesday the SES has received around 3,500 for assistance.
Albanese backflips on census question following almost a week of backlash
Amy Remeikis
As we just flagged, Anthony Albanese has told Melbourne ABC radio there will be a question on sexuality in the census, contradicting his assistant minister’s announcement that the proposal for new questions had been dumped.
After almost a week of backlash against the decision, which included at least six Labor backbenchers publicly criticising the move, the prime minister said questions would be included in the census, if they passed through the standard ABS testing procedures.
There will be a question in the census if it is successfully tested by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
My government has been focused on the issues that we’ve just been discussing [cost of living].
We haven’t sat down and gone through line by line and said what questions will be asked in the census in two years time, in 2026. That’s the job for the ABS.
Prime minister says there will be question on sexuality in the census
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking with Raf Epstein on ABC Radio Melbourne about the decision to exclude questions on gender identity and sexuality from the 2026 census.
He said there would be one question on sexuality in the census, tested by the ABS:
There will be a question in the census, if it is successfully tested by the Australian Bureau of Statistics … We haven’t sat down and gone through line by line, what questions will be asked in the census in two years time, in 2026, that’s the job at the ABS.
On Monday the assistant minister for treasury, Andrew Leigh, had said there would be no changes to the 2026 census more than a year after the Australian Bureau of Statistics issued a statement of regret over the distress felt by the LGBTQ+ community as a result of being left out of censuses.
Brisbane set for four days of temperatures above 30C
Brisbane is in for a string of hot days, with temperatures above 30C forecast until Monday.
The city is forecast to reach a top of 32C today, and 34C on Saturday. Brisbane is then forecast to reach a top of 33C on Sunday and 34C on Monday.
The fire danger is listed as “moderate” for today.
Sydney forecast to reach 29C today, approaching August records
Speaking of the hot weather, Sydney is forecast to reach a maximum of 29C today at its official weather station at Observatory Hill.
On Wednesday Sydney reached 28.1C at lunchtime – the hottest August day in at least the past seven years, beating last year’s 27.5C recorded on 30 August.
If Sydney reaches 29C today it will be the hottest August day in Sydney since 2012, when it got to 29.2C.
The city’s record August temperature is 31.3C, set in 1995.
Fire risk for Illawarra could remain through to Monday, RFS inspector says
NSW Rural Fire Service inspector Ben Shepherd spoke with the Today show earlier about the heightened fire danger in Sydney and the Illawarra today.
He said the winds were already picking up in Sydney this morning, contributing to the fire risk.
We will see it slightly back off a little bit for places like Sydney tomorrow, but places like the Illawarra, we could see a heightened fire danger right through to Monday.
It is still only winter and we want people to understand that fires can happen at any time. But look, this is really a bit of a wake-up call and a bit of a rude awakening for many people … seeing that fire activity this week.
Flames erupt on major Queensland highway after ute and truck collide
A male driver has suffered life-threatening injuries after his ute and a truck carrying chemicals collided on a notorious stretch of highway in Queensland, AAP reports.
The two vehicles crashed at Bororen, 400km north of Brisbane, on the Bruce Highway just after 5am.
The male truck driver suffered abdominal, leg, pelvic, head and arm injuries, the Queensland Ambulance Service said.
The truck spilled hazardous material sparking an exclusion zone spanning a 2km radius around the crash site. Emergency services remain on the scene battling fires involving both vehicles.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Service said it would be a “prolonged incident” as more than five crews attack the blaze and clean up the chemicals.
BOROREN (South of Gladstone): A two-and-a-half kilometre exclusion zone is in place around the crash site. Anyone in the area should LEAVE IMMEDIATELY. https://t.co/1S705VE7BY
— Queensland Fire Department (@QldFireDept) August 29, 2024
Independent responds to Dutton’s ‘woke agenda’ comment
Yesterday, opposition leader Peter Dutton said he believed the existing questions in the census have “stood us well as a country” and accused the Labor government of having a “woke agenda” which he thought was “at odds with the vast majority of Australians”.
The independent MP for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, has responded to those comments in a post to X:
Just when you thought it couldn’t get crazier … Peter Dutton calls census questions on LGBTIQA+ a “woke agenda”.
That’s ridiculous. These are real live Australians – counting them is crucial to making good policy.
[Anthony Albanese] do you really want to give in to this?
Sex discrimination commissioner says she hasn’t received response from minister over census questions
Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner, Dr Anna Cody, is speaking with ABC RN about the government’s decision to exclude questions of gender identity and sexuality from the 2026 census.
Asked about the notion that including the questions would create a divisive debate, Cody said:
I think it’s creating division to exclude a whole section of our community. Actually including people in the census is creating unity and recognising that we all need to be counted, that we all are important, where our lives are important, and it’s important to include everyone in a national census.
Cody said she has raised this directly with assistant minister Andrew Leigh and hasn’t received a response yet.
I would be very keen to work with government in ensuring that a good decision can be reached around this issue.
Song dedicated to slain journalists in Gaza released following MSO controversy
The song at the centre of recent controversy for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has been released online, raising money for Palestine Australia Relief and Action (Para).
Australian British pianist Jayson Gillham had a concert with the MSO cancelled after he premiered Witness by composer Connor D’Netto, dedicated to slain journalists in Gaza. The MSO’s managing director has since left the organisation and an external review has been launched following weeks of controversy. The MSO also said it made “an error” in cancelling the performance.
The song at the centre of the controversy is now available online, with all proceeds being donated to support Palestinian migrants and refugees in Australia. D’Netto described the song as such:
I’ve been thinking about social media a lot recently, how we all are constantly seeing horrific images from around the world, not just from Gaza but from all around the globe, from Ukraine, Congo, Sudan, from school shootings and domestic violence and police violence, it goes on and on. Though our gut reaction might be to look away, we cannot afford to. A friend of mine recently said that they were trying to mentally reframe ‘doomscrolling’ as ‘bearing witness’ and that really resonates with me.
Archer attributes rise in independents to growing polarisation
Moving to a broader conversation, Bridget Archer said “there’s no doubt” Australia is seeing a rise in populist positioning.
I think that’s been happening for some time, not just in Australia, but I think it’s a kind of a global phenomena … it’s a kind of tribalism, really, at the heart of it … I think everybody tends to then retreat to their side, and we don’t get a constructive debate. I don’t think we get the type of nuance that we sometimes need to see and should see in public discourse and in debate. And, you know, I think it is sort of a threat, in a way, to democracy.
Asked specifically about the upcoming federal election, Archer said the number of independents elected at the last election was a “direct reaction to that sort of polarisation”.
People [are] sort of looking around and coming up empty-handed, so looking for an alternative, I think that’s what we’re seeing sort of play out. And I think the crossroads is – how do actors in the political system respond to that? …
That’ll be interesting to see how that then plays out at the next election.
Asked if she is staying in the Liberal party and recontesting her seat, Archer responded “yes and yes”.
Archer says avoiding LGBTIQ+ census questions dismisses lived experience of many Australians
Q: Opposition leader Peter Dutton uses the word “woke agenda” and there are people who think these questions do fit into that agenda. Isn’t that at the heart the problem here?
Bridget Archer responded that by not going forward with the questions “you absolutely do feed into that”.
And actually, in doing so, you also dismiss the lived experience of a whole lot of Australians as well, who are currently just not being counted…
I think this sort of constructing everything as kind of right or left or woke or not woke, or whatever, I just think it is part of the problem that we have, and it distracts us from all sorts of things, actually, and it’s quite pointless. Just get on with it.
Bridget Archer says government should be able to make decisions and defend their decisions
Bridget Archer said the government should be prepared to make decisions and defend the decisions that they make:
I think that from the government’s point of view, it requires that they actually govern and that they make decisions and this [idea that] ‘we’re not going to do this because there might be some sort of backlash, or there might be some sort of controversy, or we’re not going to do this because … we can’t be assured that there’s not going to be a debate’ is not really leadership and is not in the best interest of the country.
We need leaders and governments that are going to make decisions, and, yes, defend the decisions that they make. If they are, but not refrain from making them because they’re not sure what somebody might say about that.
Liberal MP Bridget Archer says government’s census question reversal ‘frustrating’
Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer is speaking to ABC RN about the government’s decision to scrap questions on sexuality and gender identity from the 2026 census – which she described as “frustrating.”
She previously crossed the floor on issues during the Morrison government.
I think it’s quite frustrating, actually, to be honest. It’s a frustrating conversation about something that really shouldn’t be in any way controversial – and I think the government has actually created a controversy, where there was none…
The questions should be included. They said they would be included, it really should be a non-issue. And we shouldn’t really even be having this conversation.
Archer disagreed there was any “woke agenda” behind “asking questions around population data for our country”.
It’s just information. And, you know, if you don’t collect that information, then you can’t use it.
Bank bosses to face investigation amid cost-of-living worries
Scams, soaring mortgage payments and the rising cost of living will be top of mind as the heads of two of Australia’s biggest banks arrive at parliament for a political grilling.
As AAP reports, National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Irvine and Shayne Elliot, the head of ANZ, will appear before a House of Representatives review of Australia’s big four banks today.
The big four control about 80% of the Australian banking sector and have been accused of exacerbating financial pressures on their customers.
Westpac and Commonwealth Bank CEOs appeared on the first day of the inquiry yesterday.
Liberal MP calls for gender and sexuality questions to be added to the census
Karen Middleton
Victorian Liberal MP Keith Wolahan has added his voice to those calling for questions on sexuality and gender to be added to the 2026 census, saying he can’t see “the damage or the harm” in including them.
Wolahan has echoed the views of a number of Labor backbench MPs who are urging the government to reverse a decision to leave the questions out of the census. He told ABC RN he believed the more questions there were, the more useful the data obtained.
I don’t see the harm in adding that. I know in other areas, like in asking who veterans are that that was only recently added, and that’s been really useful. So I think more data is always useful. And so I’m not sure what the dispute is or the concern is here from a government’s perspective.
Wolahan’s comments come after his Liberal colleague Aaron Violi told the ABC that questions on gender and sexuality would provide valuable data and should be included.
Labor backbencher Josh Burns has called for the government to “reconsider” and Peter Khalil, Alicia Payne and assistant minister Ged Kearney expressed support for a rethink.
Questions on gender, sexuality and several other topics were due to be added to the 2026 census after the Australian Bureau of Statistics consulted the community. But this week it emerged the government had decided the extra questions should not proceed, with ministers saying they could generate “division” and “nastiness”.
