Allegra Spender has introduced a bill to stop religious schools sacking teachers and expelling students for being gay, trans, pregnant or divorced.
The Community Strong Member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, introduced the Sex Discrimination and Fair Work Amendment (Equality in Treatment in Religious Schools) Bill 2026 to close that gap.
“Most Australians would be surprised to learn that under federal law today, a religious school can still expel a student or sack a teacher simply for becoming pregnant, getting divorced or being gay,” she said.
“Schools should be places where students are protected, where they can grow and be themselves. These laws do the opposite.”
Spender said she had spoken to many people across the country who had been discriminated against under the current laws, and that there was a way forward.
“This is about faith and fairness coexisting. We can protect religious freedom without anyone being able to lose their job or being expelled because of who they are.”
Spender criticised the Labor government for failing to act on these changes, despite a promise to do so.
“The Labor Party has had a commitment to make these changes but has failed to act. There is a pathway through the parliament for these. If they aren’t going to act now, when will they?” she said.
In 2022, Labor made a commitment to scrap s38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act.
This provision gives religious schools a legal exemption to discriminate against students on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, covering both gay and transgender students, including by expelling them.
However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year ruled out reintroducing religious discrimination legislation, which the government shelved in 2024.
He blamed a lack of support from the Opposition and rising community tensions in comments made in May 2025.
“I maintain my position that you need broad support for legislation. We weren’t able to receive that,” Albanese said at the time.
“I’m up for legislation that has broad support, but we do not need further issues created. I’ve been about turning the temperature down on those issues, which is what social cohesion requires.”
Now, though, Labor is being urged to support the bill, with Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown saying there was clear support for its passage.
“The question is whether the government is serious about honouring the commitment it made to our community and women’s groups all those years ago,” she said.
“A gay student should not have to hide who they are to have a shot at leadership or live in fear of being expelled, and no woman should ever risk losing her job because she falls pregnant outside marriage.”
Brown said it was unacceptable in modern Australia for people to be left without protection from discrimination.
“We urge the federal government and all federal MPs to seize this opportunity and finally deliver these long-overdue reforms,” she said.
James Elliot-Watson, a former student at a Christian school in Sydney, said his experiences at school had made him feel less worthy of opportunities.
“We’ve had years of broken promises that the laws will change, but right now we’re leaving kids across the country at risk of the same treatment that I faced,” he said.
“I’ll say what I said two years ago: it’s time for the government to do their job and protect vulnerable kids from being discriminated against by their own schools.”
Some community groups, though, are concerned the new bill doesn’t go far enough, with Just.Equal spokesperson Brian Greig saying that while the bill was welcome, more could be done.
“The Spender Bill is a welcome opportunity to highlight discrimination in religious schools and the harm it causes. But it overlooks the very same discrimination happening in health, employment, and other services which are increasingly of concern to a wider range of LGBTIQA+ Australians, especially the elderly.”
Greig said the debate was too narrow and this was an opportunity to broaden its scope.
“The archaic religious exemptions that allow LGBTIQA+ people to be excluded, disadvantaged and stigmatised in commonwealth-funded services is much wider than mere schools. We must stop ignoring this and shift the debate back to the full picture.”
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Related: UN Urges Australia to End Discrimination in Religious Schools
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