Then you don’t want Labour. They will do less harm but they won’t do what’s needed. We’re fucked.
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I reckon they think they’re wedging News Corp and the Liberal Party in doing so, and trying to look like the good guys for (eventually) taking the reasonable position. They should stop with the bullshit and just fucking govern.
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I presume they were just looking to avoid a flare up of the rights gender culture war (for political motivations). Seems extra dumb to me because if they’d just gone with the recommendations from the ABS then - we’re just following the expert advice - they could have deflected any ownership of it. Politicians usually love that.
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What is lost in all this is the actual question that Albanese said would be too complicated.
According to the ABC, this is what the Government decided was too complex:
—
- What is the person’s gender?
(Gender refers to current gender which may be different to sex recorded at birth and may be different to gender recorded on legal documents.)
Respondents are asked to mark one of the following boxes: Man; Boy; Woman; Girl; non-binary; uses another term; prefer not to answer
- How does the person describe their sexual orientation?
The options are: straight; gay or lesbian; bisexual; uses another term(specify); don’t know; prefer not to answer. This is marked as a question for people aged 15 and over.
- Has the person been told they were born with a variation of sex characteristics?
(Sometimes called intersex or differences of sex development, this question refers to innate reproductive development, genetics or hormones that do not fit the medical norms for female or male bodies. These specific characteristics may be noticed at birth or develop in puberty).
The options are: yes; no; don’t know; prefer not to answer.
—
Not exactly easy to understand, particularly for people who aren’t as familiar with the terms.
that’s difficult to understand???
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Yes. Do you know how many Australians are illiterate?
if they’re that illiterate then I would suggest the whole thing would be impossible for them to fill out let alone 3 questions
Designing it for all recipients would indeed be a challenge.
Now I’m sure there was a large political dimension to the initial decision as well, but the questions are not straightforward.
I am at a loss to understand the difficulties here.
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It looks like the koala is about to shirt front Putin
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Hope they both got chlamydia.
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“Putin killed by dropbear” is a headline that would never get old.
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I think we’re at a point where even the most illiterate and backwards Australian might scoff at being asked those questions, but would know how to confidently answer the first two.
I still really struggle to see what is more difficult with these questions that is more difficult in others in terms of literacy. Considering there’s also options to have the text read out or have the text translated to one’s native language. Maybe the concepts of changing gender are difficult to understand to older people, but that’s just the challenges of a changing world. No different than shifting the census so it’s online or using technology in general.
‘Has the person been told…’
Right off the bat, that’s a very different framing for a question than the others
‘… a variation of sex characteristics’
Is a phrase that I assume is not used by, or been heard by, many if not most Australians
‘(Sometimes called intersex or differences of sex development, this question refers to innate reproductive development, genetics or hormones that do not fit the medical norms for female or male bodies. These specific characteristics may be noticed at birth or develop in puberty)’
The terms ‘intersex’ and ‘sex development’ are also unfamiliar to lots of people; let alone ‘innate reproductive development’. People have heard of genetics and hormones but if you asked a sample of people what they are, I bet you’d get a big range of answers.
It’s an impossible task to design a census for everyone. But I think it’s very reasonable to look at that question and think it’s too complex.
FYI:
- I want government to collect this data including for my own professional reasons
- I’m not commenting on the messaging around the issue, how it was handled politically etc
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I will agree question 3 is extremely difficultly worded and maybe could have been worded way better than what it is. In saying that, I would suggest that if you were born and identified with a variation of sex characteristics, you’ll 100% understand that question and will answer either yes or prefer not to answer. Most other people would read that and just answer no.
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They are self selecting questions. Anyone who would answer the question with other than a binary response knows how they want to answer it. Other than that the vast majority will answer with the obvious answer that applies to them.
It’s really not difficult. Any person that has registered a car, filed a tax return, engaged with Centrelink, applied for a job, created a social media account, etc. should have no problem answering those questions.
They didn’t decide it was too complex.
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I think we’re going to continue to disagree, but such is life.