The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is undertaking a review of topics for the 2026 Census. Public consultation is undertaken to assist the ABS with its recommendations to the Australian Government on the topics that could be included in the 2026 Census. 

The 2021 Census released by the ABS grossly failed to reflect the true religiosity in Australia. It is critical that we know how many people of faith there are and what faith group they belong to for the purpose of future planning.

When you have a census that does not mandate the ticking of the "Religion" box you will end up with a skewed result that does not reflect the Christian faith in Australia.

The ABS must mandate in the next Census in 2026 the compulsory 'ticking' of 'religion' if a true and fair view of the Christian faith is to be reflected. The data for religion is needed for the planning of future infrastructure such as churches, faith schools, faith hospitals, and faith aged care centres. The time has come to counter the anti-religion campaigns which advocated against the ‘ticking’ of the religion box in the 2021 Census.

Phase one of the consultation is open from 28 February to 28 April 2023. The ABS wants to understand what information is needed, but not currently collected by the ABS. Let’s tell them. The ABS will assess submissions received in phase one before undertaking a second phase of public consultation in mid-2023.

We need to hammer home the need to have the ‘Religion Box’ mandated and not optional extra as the anti-religion movements want.

We need your HELP sending the ABS feedback on the topics to be considered for inclusion in the 2026 Census. In particular, we need to have the ‘religion box’ mandated by the Australian Government.