The Tasmanian Government has released a draft bill aimed at criminalising harmful practices designed to change the sexual orientation of transgender, gay, lesbian or gender-diverse people.
Under the proposed legislation, adults found guilty of carrying out conversion practices could face fines of up to $29,250 and up to 18 months in jail.
However, the bill has faced criticism from LGBTIQA+ advocates who argue that it does not go far enough to protect gender-diverse people and contains loopholes that could allow conversions to continue.
Attorney General and Minister for Justice Guy Barnett said the bill includes “several important exclusions” that will enable “clinically appropriate” practices by health service providers and “more general actions such as providing support or understanding to another person” to continue.
“[They] are not conversion practices for the purposes of this Bill … the legislation will not restrict supportive care, guidance, or mentoring of a child by a parent or guardian,” Barnett said.
“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.”
Equality Tasmanian argue that these exclusions will allow conversion practices on LGBTQIA+ people to continue under the guise of “support” or “guidance”.
“This is the kind of bill you would draft if you wanted to appear to ban conversion practices without actually banning them,” spokesperson Rodney Croome said.
“These are the holes conversion practitioners will crawl through so they can continue to inflict their cruel and discredited ‘therapies’.”
“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.”
Those in favour of the bill believe it strikes a balance by not impeding the professional ethics of health practitioners and protecting parents rights.
Public consultation on the draft bill is currently open on the Department of Justice website and will close on February 16.
