Senior Labor figures have reassured a Christian lobby group that the Albanese government will not support Allegra Spender’s legislative amendments to remove faith schools’ exemptions to federal anti-discrimination laws.
A spokesperson for the Freedom for Faith lobby group told a conference in Melbourne on 31 October that the Prime Minister’s office, government ministers and “senior Labor MPs” had, in relation to Ms Spender’s recently introduced bill, told Freedom for Faith “we don’t want that fight”.
Speaking to a Christian audience for the ‘Secular challenges to living with Christian conviction’ event, Mike Southon said Christians could take “a little bit of comfort” from the government’s reassurances.
“I’ve talked personally with the Attorney-General, and we’ve talked with the officers of the Prime Minister – his senior advisor – on this issue, as well as the office of the minister for education, as well as conversations with senior Labor MPs. And every single one of them have said: ‘The Spender bill is not going forward. We don’t want that fight. It’s not going forward’,” he said.
“So that’s a little bit of comfort.”
On 20 October, several Christian leaders wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, and Minister for Education Jason Clare to “raise concerns” regarding Ms Spender’s Sex Discrimination and Fair Work Amendment (Equality in Treatment in Religious Schools) Bill 2026.
In the letter, they welcomed the Albanese government’s commitment that “legal protections for people of faith will not go backwards under Labor” and its commitments to maintaining the right of religious schools to preference people of their faith in the employment of staff and to only pursue changes to existing laws with bipartisan support from the Liberal-National opposition.
The Christian leaders also said they were “grateful” for having received “reassurances” during that week that these commitments remained in place.
Ms Spender introduced her bill into the House of Representatives on 12 October, proposing to remove exemptions to federal discrimination laws that allow faith schools to take action against staff and students for reasons including marital and relationship status, sexuality, or pregnancy, where the schools act in good faith to avoid injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherents of the relevant religion or creed.
At the time, Ms Spender also told ABC Radio that providing such protections for staff and students was particularly important given the immense taxpayer funds provided to faith-based schools.
Fellow independent MP Kate Cheney has spoken in favour of the bill in a speech to parliament, but no further debate time has been given to the private member’s bill.
It appears that the Albanese government has not yet publicly indicated whether it will oppose the bill.
In a video on Freedom for Faith’s social media, published after the nationaal Prayer Breakfast at Parliament House in Canberra in late October, Mr Southon said he had spoken with Attorney-General Rowland and she was “unequivocal”.
“This bill will not progress,” he said.
“…and I have heard that promise from a number of MPs now. Caucus have met and they’ve decided this bill’s not going to progress.”
When in opposition, Mr Albanese’s Labor Party pledged to protect students and staff from discrimination in faith schools.
In 2022, the new Albanese government asked the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to advise on delivering that commitment. In 2024, the ALRC recommended the removal of the exemptions.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s response to the report was that he wanted bipartisan support from the coalition before advancing legislation to remove religious school exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act, even though the numbers likely exist in the Senate to pass reforms without the coalition.
Si Gladman is Executive Director of the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.
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Image: Allegra Spender (Facebook).