The amended bill passed the lower house,but Morrison shelved it before it could reach the Senate where Liberal Andrew Bragg was poised to cross the floor to support the amendments,likely guaranteeing its passage. Bragghas also renewed his call for the matters to be dealt with together.

On Sunday,Morrison maintained it had “always been” the government’s position to deal with the matters separately,despite pledging last year to address the two issues simultaneously as part of the religious discrimination bills package that was put before the parliament in February.

“They are both important issues and the position of the government has always been to deal with them sequentially,” he said.

When pressed by reporters on what “sequentially” meant in terms of a timeframe,Morrison pointed to a year-long expert review process that would only be triggered after the passage of the religious discrimination bill. This is because the government has instructed theAustralian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to provide drafting on how best to amend the Sex Discrimination Act to protect LGBT students and teachers once the Religious Discrimination Act has been in operation for one year – a process that contains no guarantee its recommendations will ultimately be legislated.

Campaigning in the Sydney seat of Bennelong,Labor leader Anthony Albanese noted Morrison had previously written to him last year pledging to amend the Sex Discrimination Act as part of the religious bills package.

“I am astonished that he has walked away from that. We need to protect people from discrimination whether it is religious discrimination or on the basis of people’s sexuality,” Albanese said.

Asked whether he agreed with Morrison’s sentiment that gay students were not being expelled from religious schools,he said:“If people don’t think that some young people are discriminated against and vilified because of their sexuality then that just does not reflect reality.”

In a letter to Albanese in December,Mr Morrison told his opponent there was “no place in our education system for any form of discrimination against a student on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity” and informed him the government would amend the SDA to address the issue.

Christian Schools Australia spokesman Mark Spencer agreed with Morrison there was “no evidence that students are being expelled from faith-based schools simply because they are gay”.

He called for Morrison and Albanese to use Sunday night’s leaders’ debate to commit to passing the religious bill this year while bringing forward the ALRC process to commence immediately,rather than waiting 12 months.

“If a clear commitment is made tonight by both leaders,people of faith can have protection,faith-based schools can have certainty,and LGBT students can have their fears addressed – all before Christmas,” he said.

Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown said voters deserved greater clarity from the Coalition on the issue.

“Despite recent shocking examples of discrimination in religious schools,we saw the Morrison government withdraw its own bill after it was amended to strengthen protections for LGBTQ+ students,and now the prime minister is downplaying the need for such protections at all,” she said.

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