Michaelia Cash says some reforms to protect LGBTQ+ students face year-long wait

Michaelia Cash appears to have reneged on a deal with Liberal moderates on religious discrimination, revealing broad protections for LGBTQ+ students will have to wait for 12 months.

Banning the expulsion of LGBTQ+ students could be enacted immediately, but reforms preventing students being punished in other ways will have to wait for the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) review, the attorney general said in a webinar to Christian lobby group FamilyVoice on Wednesday.

Cash had offered the concession as the government was struggling to win votes from its own MPs to pass the bill in the lower house, but it prompted furious reaction from the Australian Christian Lobby and Christian Schools Australia, which threatened to withdraw their support over the deal.

The deal with the moderates included removing section 38(3) of the SDA which allows religious schools to discriminate against another person on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy.

The bill faces an uncertain future, with two inquiries by parliamentary committee to consider it over summer before reporting back on 4 February.

Cash also suggested that further amendments could be made to appease religious groups that want to bolster protection against discrimination by reversing the onus of proving allegedly discriminatory conduct was reasonable.