So we just had our census, and it included some new and exciting questions like “Should we come visit you during the purge?” “are you trans?” and the like.
Around 10 years ago anonymity (in as much as that was worth given postcodes were tracked and denanon attacks are kinda easy) was abandoned in favour of “de-identified” information. This was promptly shown to be reversible, and nothing was ever really done about it.
Since then, I have had great apprehension around filling out this thing accurately, given that historically the nazis used censuses to do some pruning of my family tree. In Aus we’ve recently had actual naked nazi marches and shit, so this isn’t some abstract fear.
But many otherwise approximately sensitive people have been deploying the old “well if you aren’t honest then the government won’t make services for you” rhetoric, as if it’s vulnerable people’s fault that trust is scarce.
It makes me very sad, because a) secure people could just lie and that would help the causes they’re apparently concerned about and b) it shows how shallow most people’s allegiance to people outside the majority is.
That’s I don’t want to seek an autism diagnosis or anything related a disability. I just don’t want to be put on a registry even if it makes things a bit difficult. I am not even in one of the countries that is making a list of neurodiverse or autistic people but still it scares me.
I’ve had a deep-vein thrombosis episode in the past where I disclosed to the nurse that I have Bipolar disorder and I’m pretty sure that’s why I spent the whole night and more waiting in the urgency unit to be seen. It was begging to get into my lungs when it was finally my turn.
So I’ve mentally made a decision to not say all health issues to health care at all times, which is counter-productive sadly.
That’s the experience of many of us sadly :(
I also felt weird answering the census. I chose a lot of the “prefer not to say” answers but that’s still kinda a givaway that I’m not “normal”
Also them wanting to know about illnesses and disabilities had my red flags going.
I’m just glad I’m leaving Australia soon. It really feels like they’re priming us for a One Nation government, as if Labour wasn’t already right-wing enough with its NDIS cuts, internet ID bs and US simping.
I could say what I did but I am given to understand it would legally be unwise.
Where are you off to? Every year my future here seems more and more precarious, but I dearly love my family and don’t want to have to separate from them.
New Zealand. Lucky that I am a NZ citizen
Good luck! They have their own problems but seem less degraded in certain ways. I’m deeply impressed by how well the Maori have done at combatting colonialism vs other colonial states.
Fly safe, sweet owl
I thought the census was bad. I don’t think the way they should count trans people is by their birth sex not matching their gender. I don’t think the ABS should be calling C4T gay and lesbian couples heterosexual couples, or a C4T straight couples being considered same sex couples.
But I did accurately put my information in. I think if they start rounding us up to kill us, there is so much information already out there they can use, like PBS and Medicare data, or updated birth certificates and passports etc. Unless you’ve only ever done DIY, never done a blood level privately and never changed any documents, they can work out you are trans. Being trans in 2026 is different to being Jewish in the 1930s in terms of some practical realities, even if it’s very similar in other ways.
I think the only reason I did fill in accurately is I kind of like the idea of a trans woman in 99 years being like “oh wow, Xia was a trans lesbian in 2026 how wild is that!”
I have inside information on the state of data in the government and I would evaluate the viability of piecing Medicare, ATO, BDM etc data together around the same lines as linking your visa, nintendo account, and neopets data together.
That shit is mangled.
I’m glad you’re feeling brave though! Historians will be grateful.
Without going into doxx-ing details I’m also basically a minor public figure who is openly trans and visibly clocky.
So like I’m getting denounced regardless of any lying.
Competently done censuses should account for expected methodological errors like that, if a leak would be particularly risky it is smart to lie.
Also it’s not like any government ever gave a group rights or services based merely on their prevalence.
See women’s rights lmao
Yeah, i was caught off guard by it because I didn’t know literally everyone had to do it, apparently even temporary visitors? Why?
I guess to know accurate numbers of visitors and stuff?
Governments love to suck up data
