‘Injustices ignored’: LGBTQ and faith groups fume at PM’s broken promise

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has angered both equality advocates and faith groups after abandoning his election promise to introduce religious discrimination reforms and protect LGBTQ students and teachers in a bid to avoid a culture war.

The Greens on Tuesday accused Albanese of cowardice, Equality Australia said he had overlooked LGBTQ Australians, and the Australian Christian Lobby said he had let down people of faith after the prime minister confirmed Labor would not seek to resolve the long-running issue in this term of government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the time for securing bipartisan support on the issue has lapsed.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Labor went to the last election vowing to introduce a religious discrimination act while also scrapping faith-based schools’ right to sack staff and expel students because of their gender or sexuality – an issue that plagued the former Morrison government.

Albanese’s desertion of the pledge is an attempt to stop a divisive debate on religious freedoms when tensions in the community are already running high, and stave off a campaign against Labor by conservative Christian groups who had argued the new laws would not allow schools to maintain communities of faith.

But it means Labor leaves in place a controversial exemption in the Sex Discrimination Act that permits religious schools to discriminate against students and staff based on their gender, sexuality, marital or pregnancy status.

It also leaves religious Australians without an anti-discrimination act, although the government is advancing separate criminal laws to protect people against hate speech.

Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown said on Tuesday that Albanese’s decision meant more children would miss out on leadership roles or be refused enrolment in schools, while teachers would keep losing their jobs, be denied promotions or live in fear.

“Our community’s needs have again been overlooked, and blatant injustices ignored,” she said.

“The government is playing a dangerous game by not acting now and pursuing the available pathway through parliament when the stakes are so high for thousands of vulnerable Australians. We have spent more than a decade raising this issue, with many reviews and attempts to change the law.”

The Australian Christian Lobby was also disappointed the Albanese government had abandoned the long-promised protections.

“The government’s commitment to this legislation was not the simple pre-election promise we all took it to be. Instead, it now appears it was shrouded in ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ that allow scope for the government to fail Australians of faith so dismally at this moment,” said the lobby’s chief executive, Michelle Pearse.

“It sends a very negative message indeed to a great number of Australian religious followers, and others who appreciate the need to improve Australia’s human rights protection where it is so obviously lacking.”

Progressive crossbenchers and the Greens had urged Albanese to work with them to pass legislation. But the government refused, saying it would only move forward if it had Coalition support to avoid a messy public debate.

Independent MP Allegra Spender wrote to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash urging them to resume negotiations.

“At the last election, Labor made a promise to both religious and LGBTIQ+ communities, recognising that years of public debates, which have caused undue harm, must come to an end,” she said.

“It is heartbreaking and unacceptable that these kinds of discriminations persist when there is a clear majority of support – both in parliament and the broader community – for change. Last month, the Anglican Church, Christian schools, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, and Equality Australia all came together to urge the parliament to move forward to reform.”

But Albanese said on Friday the time for securing bipartisan support had lapsed, which meant his government would not introduce the laws it had drafted.

“The last thing that Australia needs is any divisive debate relating to religion and people’s faith,” Albanese said.

“Agreement hasn’t been able to be reached because there’s been no suggestions from the Coalition of amendments of the legislation. So I don’t intend to engage in a partisan debate when it comes to religious discrimination, and I think that that is unfortunate.”

The Coalition had publicly called for Labor to incorporate the feedback of faith leaders.

Cash said on Tuesday it had been “one of the most bizarre processes I have seen in my time in parliament”.

“It is little wonder the prime minister withheld the legislation from his own caucus given the shocking potential impact on faith-based schools and the level of alarm expressed by faith leaders,” she said.

Greens LGBTIQA+ spokesperson Stephen Bates said his party had offered to work with Labor, and the majority of Australians wanted the government to fulfil its promise.

“When it comes to keeping progressive promises, it seems this Labor government is incapable of doing so without the sign-off of the LNP,” he said.

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