Census 2026: Andrew Leigh reassures Australians over cybersecurity as ABS adds sexuality and gender questions
The federal minister in charge of the 2026 census says the safety of sensitive information is at the forefront of the national survey.
Australians providing sensitive information about their sexual orientation, religion and income in the upcoming census survey are being reassured about cybersecurity concerns.
The federal minister in charge of capturing a portrait of Australia said people can be confident the census will be safe, amid recent controversies of AI bots running rogue and data breaches occurring in large organisations.
Assistant Productivity Minister Andrew Leigh said that while there were challenges with delivering a census, the process on Tuesday night should be smooth.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“This is perhaps the largest peacetime logistics operation that the government engages in,” Dr Leigh told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“Cybersecurity has been at the forefront of my conversations with the ABS, and the forefront of their work in ensuring that the census is safe.”
The census is conducted every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and is the largest and most comprehensive national survey.
The vast majority of respondents will fill in the personal questionnaire online, which has previously caused controversy.
In 2016, the ABS website suffered technical failures and blocked millions of Australians from completing the survey, a failure front of mind in Dr Leigh’s statements the day before the 2026 edition was due.
He urged Australians to complete the census early to take some pressure off the servers running the website that millions of Australians will be accessing in tandem.
“The ABS learned significant lessons from the challenges that emerged in 2016 and ... continue to work very closely with our cyber security authorities and engage on a whole range of risk assessments,” Dr Leigh said.
“It is vital that the census operates to that level of integrity.”
Other challenges with the census included ensuring prisoners, the disabled, homeless and elderly were able to take part and be represented accurately in the findings, he said.
Two new questions will be also be included in 2026’s survey after years of protest from the LGBTQI community.
For the first time, questions will ask respondents about their sexual orientation and gender identification.
Equality Australia will continue to campaign for the full inclusion of intersex people in the future, after the ABS opted against a question to include the group.
In other census changes, references to mother and father will be updated to parent one and parent two to reflect contemporary family structures.
A question on ancestry will also allow respondents to select up to four options, replacing the previous limit of two.
