As census time nears, it pays to look beyond the headline numbers on this controversial question

August 2, 2026 — 4:10am

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On Tuesday week, August 11, Australians will tackle the five-yearly census, providing a demographic snapshot of the nation and guiding governments and others in all sorts of policy decisions.

One area that always attracts attention is the question of religion, a little controversial again this year as secularists want the question “what is your religion?” changed. That can’t happen because the question must be able to be compared with previous censuses, but the “no religion” response will move to the top of the page.

Either way, there has........

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