Media release – Guy Barnett, Attorney General and Minister for Justice, 13 December 2023
Public consultation begins on Conversion Practices Bill
The Rockliff Liberal Government wants Tasmania to be a place where everyone feels valued, included, encouraged and supported to be the best they can be, and this includes providing a safe and inclusive community for LGBTIQA+ people.
We are committed to making decisions on the basis of expert advice and best practice with priority focus on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all Tasmanians.
The Justice Miscellaneous (Conversion Practices) Bill 2024 makes amendments to the Health Complaints Act 1995 and the Police Offences Act 1935 to give effect to the Government’s commitment to ban conversion practices in Tasmania.
A ‘conversion practice’, as defined in the Bill, is a practice that attempts to change or eradicate the sexual orientation or gender identity of another person.
However, the Bill contains several important exclusions. For example, practices by health service providers that are clinically appropriate and/or in compliance with professional obligations, as well as more general actions such as providing support or understanding to another person, are not conversion practices for the purposes of this Bill.
Given the evidence available nationally and internationally, the legislation will not restrict supportive care, guidance, or mentoring of a child by a parent or guardian.
Conversion practices are distinct from support that may be provided to a person by health professionals, family and friends, or in religious or spiritual settings.
As outlined, the Bill specifically provides that expression of a belief or opinion alone is not a conversion practice.
The Tasmania Government supports freedom of religion and the right for all people to express their personal faith, beliefs, and values, including for the purposes of making contributions to public policy debates.
This reform is not intended to limit people’s ability to have open discussions as part of policy debates, and within families, faith communities and clinical settings.
The Bill also contains amendments to the Health Complaints Act 1995 to provide a pathway to make complaints about conversion practices provided under the guise of health services.
The Government believes it is vitally important to get this important legislation right, and in order to do that we need to give Tasmanians an opportunity to participate in consultation on the draft legislation.
Public consultation on the draft Bill starts today and closes on February 16, with the draft Bill available on the Department of Justice’s website www.justice.tas.gov.au
Media release – Equality Tasmania, 13 December 2023
CONCERN CONVERSION BILL WILL ALLOW PRACTICES TO CONTINUE
“This is the kind of bill you would draft if you wanted to appear to ban conversion practices without actually banning them.” – Rodney Croome
Equality Tasmania says a bill against conversion practices, released today by the Tasmanian Government, will allow such practices to continue.
The Government’s bill took eighteen months to draft following the release of a Tasmanian Law Reform Institute report recommending reform in May last year.
Equality Tasmania spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said,
“We are concerned that the bill doesn’t go far enough and doesn’t meet the standards recommended by the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute.”
“The bill will allow conversion practices to continue, both in health and religious settings, under the guise of ill-defined terms like ‘support’, ‘assistance’, ‘care’ and ‘guidance’.”
“It will also allow conversion practices if there is ‘consent’, despite the fact that it is impossible to consent to a ‘treatment’ that doesn’t work for a ‘condition’ that doesn’t exist”.
“Another problem is that in the other states most conversion practices are caught under civil law, not criminal, but in this bill there are no civil penalties so it is less likely conversion practitioners will be held to account.”
“These are the holes conversion practitioners will crawl through so they can continue to inflict their cruel and discredited ‘therapies’.”
“We are also disappointed this won’t be a stand-alone act with a preamble against conversion practices like in the other states where legislation has sent a stronger message.”
“Another big concern is that there’s no mention of the kind of education programs undertaken in other states that are necessary to ensure the legislation actually works on the ground.”
“This is the kind of bill that you would draft if you wanted to appear to ban conversion practices without actually banning them.”
The Government has launched a consultation on the bill that will close on February 16th.
Mr Croome said he will encourage Tasmanian survivors to write to the Government to highlight how the new law may not have provided them with the protection they required when they were vulnerable to conversion practices.
Media release – Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Leader, 14 December 2023
Conversion Practices Bill Fails LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians
After dragging their feet for 18 months, the Liberal Government has finally released a bill that does not go anywhere near what’s needed to protect LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians from harmful and dangerous conversion practices.
Conversion practices continue in Tasmania, and are causing profound harm to LGBTIQA+ people. It was very welcome for the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute recommend these practices be banned, and heartening when Premier Jeremy Rockliff committed to a ban.
After 18 months of delay, however, the Liberals have released a draft bill that would only implement three of the 16 TLRI recommendations.
This is deeply disturbing for all those who’ve fought for a ban on conversion practices – not to mention all those in the LGBTIQA+ community who are at risk of harm right now.
It seems the hard hight of the Liberal party room have forced Jeremy Rockliff to weaken his stance on conversion practices. The bill his government has released fails to protect LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians from the profound trauma and pain of these practices.
A person’s sexuality or gender identity is not a mental health condition, but conversion practices tell LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians there is something wrong with them, and they need to be “cured”. This is dangerously prejudiced and harmful, and has no place in our society.
We urge all Tasmanians to make a submission to this draft bill, and demand the Liberals go further, and produce strong legislation to ban conversion practices next year.
Media release – Ella Haddad MP, Shadow Attorney General, 14 December 2023
Draft conversion Bill doesn’t go far enough
Tasmanian Labor has serious concerns that the minority Liberal government’s draft legislation to ban damaging conversion practices in Tasmania does not go far enough.
The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute recommended a ban on conversion practices 18 months ago but the government has been dragging its feet ever since.
While Labor welcomes the government finally releasing a draft Bill for consultation, the legislation needs to be comprehensive to ensure no-one is subjected to conversion practices in our state.
It is well known that conversion practices do happen in Tasmania, often under the guise of either health treatment or theology.
LGBTIQA+ attributes are not faults or dysfunctions and LGBTIQA+ people are not “broken” or in need of “therapy” or “counselling” to change who they are attracted to or how they express their gender. These practices cause lifelong harm to people subjected to them.
It is vital that any Bill seeking to ban these dangerous practices is able to capture them all, no matter where they are being delivered.
To do otherwise would be to allow a loophole for people to continue to inflict this harm and risks Tasmania becoming a safe haven for these practices as other states move to ban them in all settings.
Tasmanian Labor has continued to hold the Government to account to bring forward laws to ban conversion practices and we will continue to hold them to account to ensure the laws introduced are comprehensive.
