The Australian Bureau of Statistics has announced that it will count same-sex couples in the next nationwide census, due in August 2011. Australia's same-sex couples will be counted Paul Lowe, Head of the ABS Population Census Branch, confirmed the change in an email to the Australian Marriage Equality group, which has been lobbying for several years to have the ABS find a way to count same-sex marriages in the Census. "The count of people in same-sex relationships who tick the 'husband or wife of person 1' box at question 5 will be made available as a part of the standard output from the 2011 Census," said the email. Australian Marriage Equality national convener Peter Furness welcomed the decision, which will count the number of married same-sex couples living together even though such marriages are denied recognition under Australian law following amendments to the Marriage Act in 2004. "As government agencies like the ABS begin to recognise the reality that some same-sex partners are married, the Rudd Government's opposition to recognising same-sex marriage looks increasingly outdated", said Furness. "The Rudd Government may choose to bury its head in the sand and pretend same-sex marriages don't exist, but clearly the ABS will not." New Zealand's national census every five years collects data on same-sex and opposite-sex couples that live together and in civil unioned couples, but contains no specific question about sexual orientation.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Friday, 8th May 2009 - 10:00am