Survivors of LGBTIQ+ conversion therapy have welcomed new legislation banning the widely-condemned practice in the ACT.
New laws in the territory make it a criminal offence to perform conversion practices on children or on individuals whose decision making ability is impaired.
The laws, which cover both religious and healthcare settings, were passed on the territory's final sitting day before local elections in October.
Individuals who are found guilty of carrying out these "therapies" face up to a 12-month jail term or a $24,000 fine.
Victims are also able to seek redress and compensation through the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay gave an emotional defence of the bill’s strict criminal penalties, calling conversion practices a "form of abuse".
“There is an insidious and clandestine manner in which these practices are carried out mostly against children. It is a form of abuse. And that is why criminal sanctions ought to apply,” he said.
Mr Ramsay, a Uniting Church minister, recounted how he had personally witnessed the trauma that conversion practices can inflict on young Australians.
"I have led congregations and communities of faith where people have sought refuge after being subjected to conversion therapies that have been done in the name of the church and even at times in the name of God," Mr Ramsay told the ACT's Legislative Assembly.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr added one amendment to the bill, which clarified expressions of religious tenets or beliefs would not not constitute a conversion practice.
Opposition leader Alistair Coe commended the bill's intent but expressed concerns the scope of the legislation was too broad.
He warned the legislation could allow adolescents to “sue their parents” if they found their religious beliefs to be harmful.
"Harmful conversion practices are abhorrent and are opposed by me personally and every Liberal member in the chamber,” Mr Coe said.
"This bill from the ACT government extends much further than these practices.
“In this legislation there is no room for a child to safely question or explore their identity with their parents unless it's in just one direction.”
An amendment to add additional protections for teachers and parents was defeated.
Survivors welcome crackdown
Nathan Despott, who helps run the Brave Network for conversion survivors, welcomed the new legislation, which he said begins with an affirmation that LGBTIQ+ people are not dysfunctional or disordered.
“[That] is extremely unique globally, and it will have some massive ramifications, hopefully in other areas of law as wide-ranging as intellectual disability,” he told SBS News.
“This law is ground-breaking as the first Australian example of legislation that successfully separates pseudoscientific conversion ideology from legitimate religious theology, rejecting the myth that the damaging and misleading claims at the heart of conversion practices are a core part of religious tradition.”
He added the legislation does fall short in some aspects, such as failing to include specific reference to conversion practices aimed at suppressing a person’s orientation or gender identity.
The bill defines the conversion therapies as “a treatment or other practice…the purported purpose of which is to change a person's sexuality or gender identity".
“Most people who do conversion practices go through their practices with the focus on suppressing,” he said.
“Its definition needed to be clear about the way that conversion practices are always grounded in damaging and misleading claims about the origins, causes or dysfunction and person's sexual orientation or gender identity,” he said.
But Mr Despott still considers the legislation the strongest in the country, saying it lays a roadmap for other states to improve on in cracking down on conversion practices.
The ACT joins Queensland in being the only states which have moved to introduce bans on LGBTIQ+ conversion practices.
Victoria also has legislation in place to crack down on groups offering conversion therapies, with legislation being drafted to ban the practice outright.
