A flawed Census question has shaped decades of misleading data and funding decisions, writes Brian Morris. The ABS had known for years that a deceptive Census question could misdirect grants and deny access to critical federal funding. But vested interests intervened, and together with federal government inaction, a correction of the long-standing error was abandoned and the historically flawed question has been reinstated. Why is just one Census question so important? In this Census, the ABS was all set to ask the obvious and unbiased question: ‘Does the person have a religion?’