The government of the Australian state of Tasmania is seeking to ban conversion therapy practices in a recently released draft legislation.
The Bill, known as the Justice Miscellaneous (Conversion Practices) Bill 2024, follows the Tasmanian government’s promise last year to render conversion practices illegal after a report from the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute highlighted the potential for harm arising from such practices. The report stated that the beliefs underpinning conversion therapy “supported abusive physical, psychiatric and psychological practices that caused profound and lasting harm to LGBTQA+ people” and led to further consequences of fuelling social stigma, discrimination, and abuse.
The Bill defines “conversion practice” as “a practice that attempts to change or eradicate the sexual orientation or gender identity of the recipient of that practice.” The draft legislation is meant to “prevent harm caused by practices that attempt to change or eradicate a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The Bill has faced staunch criticism from LGBTQIA+ activist groups for not going far enough. Rodney Croome, a spokesperson for Equality Tasmania, stated that “[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.'” The Bill would still allow practices given by a health service provider which “[are] part of the clinically appropriate assessment, diagnosis or treatment of a person, or clinically appropriate support for a person or enables or facilitates the provision of a health service for a person in a manner that is safe and appropriate.” Attorney-General Guy Barnett has supported the legislation, asserting that the identified loopholes serve the necessary purposes of facilitating “clinically appropriate” health practices and permitting “more general actions such as providing support or understanding to another person.”
The Bill will now undergo public consultation until February 16, 2024.
