Ethnicity, race or nation? Census classifications as barriers to the measurement of mixedness in Australia

It is an unfortunate truth that all systems of ethnic and racial classification are in some sense ‘wrong’, with each failing to adequately capture the complexity of a given population. This potentially perpetuates and legitimises structures of (dis)advantage based in culture or visible difference. Regardless of approach taken, such classification systems will likely confuse, obscure and/or offend at least some members. But given Australia’s diversity, its history as a settler colony dispossessing and numerically overwhelming its Indigenous peoples, its decades as ‘White Australia’, its more recent welcoming of migrants from a range of ethnic, racial, religious and national backgrounds, and its growing ‘mixed’ population, such systems are vital for determining who ‘we’ are and for mapping these changes and their wider correlates. Our particular interest is in the (in)ability to identify the extent, composition and rate of mixed populations in Australia. But effective classification and measurement of the ethnic and racial identities of census respondents will also support the accurate targeting and outcomes of multicultural service provision, and help scholars, policy makers, and ethnic communities understand demographic change over time.