Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flagged the government will make amendments to its Religious Discrimination Bill, adding protections that will protect students from being expelled from schools over their sexuality or gender identity.
Speaking on a Brisbane radio station this morning the Prime Minister said he did not support the move by Citipointe Christian College to add a contract that required students to denounce homosexuality and bisexuality as part of the school’s enrollment process.
“No, I don’t support that. I mean, my kids go to a Christian school here in Sydney, and I wouldn’t want my school doing that either,” Morrison told B105.3 radio.
“And the bill that we’re going to be taking through the Parliament, we will have an amendment which will deal with that to ensure that the kids cannot be discriminated against on that basis.”
The Prime Minister did not indicate how the amendments would protect students. Reports from two parliamentary inquiries are due to be delivered on Friday, and parliament is expected to resume debate on the bill next week.
The decision is a significant departure from the government’s previous approach to the issue. The Religious Discrimination Bill, which was promised after the release of the Ruddock Review into Religious Freedom in Australia, is currently in it’s third draft, after two previous iterations of the bill failed to meet expectations.
Last year there were reports that the Prime Minister had made a deal with members of his own party who raised concern over the treatment of LGBTIQA+ children in faith-based schools. Attorney-General Michaelia Cash later told conservative group Family Voice Australia that there would be no amendments to the governments plans.
The Prime Ministers announcement comes as a new poll shows voters do not support many of the key elements of the governments bill.
The Prime Minister first said he’d take action on the issue back in October 2018, promising to resolve the issue within a fortnight. Today marks 1,211 days since the PM vowed to fix the situation.
Graeme Watson
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