Sports organisers would be able to lawfully discriminate on the basis of sex when it was necessary to maintain a fair, safe and effective competition, under new laws being considered in the ACT.
A set of draft amendments to the Discrimination Act make out a clearer test for when administrators can exclude people from sporting competitions in the territory based on their sex, disability or age, which the government believes will better limit discrimination.
The bill, which will be released for public consultation on Wednesday, would also expand discrimination protections in the territory and include a positive duty to prevent discrimination for the first time.
The changes would refine the way religious bodies can lawfully discriminate, requiring there to be a link between the doctrines of a faith and the way in which the body seeks to discriminate against someone.
Religious bodies would not be able to discriminate when employing people on the grounds of faith except when it genuinely affects a person's role.
A person of faith may be picked over other candidates for a pastoral care position, but a religious body would not be able to preference a person of faith for a cleaning job, a government example said.
Religious bodies would also not be able to discriminate when they provide or sell goods and services to the public, except when it is reasonable, proportionate and justifiable.
Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne will on Wednesday present a draft exposure bill of amendments to the territory's Discrimination Act to the Legislative Assembly.
Ms Cheyne will tell the Assembly sport exceptions do not include gender identity.
She will use the example of marathon organisers, who would not be able to discriminate against a gender non-binary athlete whose sex has no bearing on the competition.
"A female-only football team may be required to allow a female-identifying person who is of male sex to play, provided their participation would not limit the fairness, safety or effectiveness of the competition," Ms Cheyne will say.
"Alternatively, having undertaken that human rights analysis, a basketball team may conclude that they need to exclude a person with disability if their participation in the league would be a safety risk."
Ms Cheyne will say the government's attention is to limit discrimination to where it was reasonable, proportionate and justified.
"These proposed amendments provide a framework to assist organisers and athletes to navigate how to make a decision with regard to the particular circumstances, nature of the sport and the individual athlete," she will say.
Ms Cheyne will say the territory's Discrimination Act is a cornerstone of the ACT's human rights framework.
"It's important that the Act is modern and best promotes equal opportunity, respect and inclusion," Ms Cheyne will say.
Ms Cheyne will say the amendments - which came from a 2015 review of the Discrimination Act - bring the protections into line with the territory's human rights laws and introduce a positive duty to prevent discrimination.
"By requiring organisations to take steps to eliminate discrimination before it happens, it will shift the responsibility away from individual complainants, help tackle systemic discrimination and reduce the risk of psychosocial hazards at work and in the community," she will say.
Public authorities would be covered by the new duty under the proposed legislation and other organisations would follow in three years' time.
The laws would also require employers to justify discriminating against candidates where a person has a genuine occupational qualification.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr moved quickly to strip religious schools of the legal right to reject gay teachers in the second half of 2018, following Phillip Ruddock's review of the federal Sex Discrimination Act.
That review had recommended changes to anti-discrimination laws that would give religious schools the right to turn away gay students and teachers.
Mr Barr in November last year defended the territory's human rights and discrimination protections, arguing they were more effective than religious freedom laws the previous federal government had proposed.
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