Point-to-point speed camera trial coming to NSW – as it happened
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- Gender identity question added to Australia's 2026 census after federal government backflip
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Speers finishes up by asking Chalmers about the ongoing census questions palaver.
He says there will be a new question covering both sexual orientation and gender for the first time (first there were going to be no questions, then there was going to be one on sexual orientation but gender was going to be left out, now it looks like it's in):
We have listened to the community. We worked very closely with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. LGBTIQ+ Australians matter. They have been heard and they will count in the 2026 census.
Really the message that we want to ensure that Australians hear from us today is that we understand the feedback that we got, we listened to that, we took it very seriously, we listened very genuinely.
We said we would find the best way to do this and I believe that we have and we will and the ABS will continue to refine the actual wording of the questions now that this additional topic has been add.
We want to make sure that we are maximising this really important economic relationship with our key trading partner. It's a relationship which is full of complexity, but also full of opportunity and I want to help the government maximise that opportunity for the Australian people, workers, businesses, employers, investors.
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