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Last November, Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus instructed the ALRC to report on removing these important exemptions from the SDA.

The ALRC’s interim report has just been released. It has recommended the removal of exemptions for faith-based schools altogether and gives examples of what this will mean for religious schools when they are confronted with the full force of the SDA and some state anti-discrimination laws.

Under what it means for students, the ALRC said “a school could no longer refuse to accept as school captain an LGBTQ+ student elected or appointed in accordance with its application process”.

“[A] school could continue to impose reasonable uniform requirements as long as adjustments could be made to accommodate transgender or gender diverse students.”

In other words, religious schools will be required to accommodate transgender students. As with state schools, presumably, this accommodation will also involve access to toilets, showers, change rooms, camps and sports, as well as name changes and preferred pronouns.

Under what it means for staff and teachers, the ALRC said, “a school could no longer refuse to hire a teacher on the grounds that they are LGBTQ+”, meaning that faith-based schools will be denied the freedom to always employ staff in accordance with the school’s religious beliefs.

Further, “a school could require an LGBTQ+ staff member involved in the teaching of religious doctrine or beliefs to teach the school’s position on those religious doctrines or beliefs, as long as they were able to provide objective information about alternative viewpoints if they wished”.

In a similar vein, a teacher must be “permitted to objectively discuss the existence of alternative views about other lifestyles, relationships, or sexuality in a manner appropriate to the context”.

Doesn’t this mean that an activist teacher can teach about gender-identity and sexual-orientation issues that contradict the fundamental moral teachings of the school’s faith?

The most intrusive ALRC proposal is to give the Australian Human Rights Commission the power to inquire into faith-based schools for what it calls “systemic unlawful discrimination”. Such “discrimination” will be inevitable. Without exemptions, the law will force sexual issues on religious schools in direct opposition to their beliefs. These draconian investigative powers to curtail religious freedom are the hallmark of an authoritarian state.

Under the Dreyfus/ALRC proposals, teachers and principals in breach of the law could face anti-discrimination charges, loss of professional accreditation and loss of employment.

Early in 2022, a bill to repeal exemptions for faith-based schools was passed in the House of Representatives with the combined support of Labor, the Greens and six dissident Liberals. It did not reach the Senate before the federal election.

Now Labor is in power, and in the Senate, the Greens and David Pocock hold the balance of power and are in a position to ensure passage of the anticipated legislation.

The ALRC has invited responses to its consultation paper by February 24, and it has set up a 15-minute survey portal where you can register your “individual views and experiences” of religious schools. Please make your views known.