Anthony Albanese says he’s prepared to shelve religious discrimination reform

Anthony Albanese has been accused of abandoning a contentious election promise after revealing it would remain on ice unless it received bipartisan support.

The Prime Minister signalled a retreat on his commitment to overhauling the nation’s religious discrimination laws on Tuesday.

“Our position is … if there is not agreement, then now is not the time to have a divisive debate, especially with the rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” Mr Albanese said, according to a caucus spokesman.

The Prime Minister raised the issue with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton while they travelled back to Canberra together after attending a funeral on Monday.

In that discussion, which also included Nationals leader David Littleproud and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, the Prime Minister also shut down the prospect of another inquiry into the legislation, Mr Dutton said.

Mr Albanese told colleagues Labor’s two draft Bills “balanced” protecting the rights of children, religious liberty and the right of schools to employ.

He told caucus the Catholic Church, the Sydney Anglican Church and the Imams Council, had supported Labor’s approach.

The draft legislation has not been released publicly nor has the Coalition, or Labor caucus, seen it.

Under the existing rules, religious bodies and education institutions are exempt and are able to discriminate against people on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Dutton accused the Prime Minister of trying to pre-emptively blame the Coalition.

“He’s looking for a way to crash this before the legislation has already been released … he’s trying to find an out on a topic he doesn’t want to get anywhere near,” Mr Dutton said.

Mr Dutton refused to give his stance on whether religious schools should have the right to dismiss a LGBTQ teacher when asked

“We don’t have any of (the) details, it’s a reasonable question at the right time, but now’s not the right time because we don’t have legislation quite deliberately, I mean the legislation is being kept from us,” Mr Dutton said.

Greens LGBTQ spokesman Stephen Bates described Mr Albanese’s position as “disappointing” given it has the numbers with to pass the reforms with the minor party’s support.

“Mr Albanese shouldn’t give a win to Dutton, Antic and anyone else in parliament who’ll use this as an opportunity to attack LGBTQ people,” he said.

“If we’re going to outsource essential public services like health, education and housing to religious institutions, they should be expected to follow public standards on anti-discrimination in employment and providing those services.”

Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown said if Mr Albanese failed to deliver his election commitment, it would be a “crushing blow” for those waiting for better protections.

A long-awaited report from the Australian Law Reform Commission on the issue is expected to be tabled on Thursday after it was handed back to the government in December.

Two draft Bills have been prepared on the matter but neither has been put to caucus or released for public consultation.

Changes to religious discrimination laws were a key issue for former prime minister Scott Morrison but his proposal was sunk in the dying days of his government.

The proposal included protections for gay and lesbian students but omitted trans students, and as a result, five Liberal MPs crossed the floor against the then-government.

Of the five MPs, and senator Andrew Bragg who opposed it in the upper house, only Bridget Archer, Senator Bragg and the MP-turned-NSW Senator Dave Sharma remain.

Mr Albanese, while opposition leader, promised Labor would introduce its own religious discrimination Bill.

Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said if he had legislation that “reflects the views of the religious communities” he should “own it”.

“But at this point in time, Mr Albanese once again, as the prime minister of this country, is merely shirking his responsibilities and is just using the opposition as an excuse,” she said.