PM Scott Morrison Changes His Mind About Sexuality Discrimination Against Students

Just days ago, Scott Morrison said that schools could already discriminate against queer students.

Earlier this week, Fairfax revealed a report into religious freedoms in schools across Australia that suggested reinforcing laws that allow religious schools to discriminate against students based on their sexuality.

When Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked what he thought about the recommendations, he explained that they weren't "proposing to change that law, to take away [the] existing arrangement that exists."

He later reiterated that "it's existing law" when asked to respond whether he was comfortable with a school expelling a student "because they're gay or lesbian."

But it seems PM Morrison has had a change of heart. On Thursday night, he told The Bolt Report that he was outraged at the thought of schools discriminating against students because of their sexuality. 

"We do not think that children should be discriminated against," PM Morrison told Sky.

"I don't think if someone's at a school they should be kicked out because they have a different sexuality to what might be believed to be the appropriate thing by a particular religious group."

We fact-checked this revelation to see if students really could be rejected or expelled based upon their sexuality. While the law could be interpreted as ambiguous in some states and territories, only two states, Tasmania and Queensland, actually protected queer students against discrimination. Fortunately, there also seems to be a limited amount of reported cases of the law being enacted in schools.

The government hasn't yet announced what they'll do with the report, or even released it publicly, so watch this space.

If you have a story you want to share with Student Edge about your school and their treatment of sexuality, send us an email at editor@studentedge.com.au.

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Read More:

Can a School Reject a Student Based On Sexuality?

Coming Out, Online: A Queer Student Explains How an Internet Mentor Helped Her Take the "First Step"

Header Image: YouTube (ABC News (Australia))