Page 1920 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
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This bill strikes an appropriate balance between the rights of individuals and communities to practise their faith, an individual’s right to privacy, and the prevention of harm caused by outrageous practices aimed at changing sexuality or gender identity. This bill is compatible with the territory’s Human Rights Act. I thank Mr Rattenbury for co-sponsoring this bill and all of those who have contributed to getting us to this point. I commend this bill to the Assembly.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Corrections and Justice Health, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety and Minister for Mental Health) (10.27): I am pleased to co-sponsor this bill with the Chief Minister, in his capacity as the Minister for Social Inclusion and Equality. As highlighted, this bill only protects and supports our LGBTIQ community. It sends a clear message that conversion practices that try to change a person’s sexuality or gender identity are not welcome here.
Our ACT community is one of the most progressive and inclusive in the world and we are committed to recognising and celebrating our diversity. We want to make sure that every young person growing up in Canberra feels proud of who they are and that they are not subject to harmful practices that try to shame them and change their sexuality or their gender identity. These practices have been demonstrated to be ineffective and can cause lifelong trauma and harm.
The definition of conversion practice has been carefully drafted to focus on preventing the most harmful practices without unreasonably limiting religious freedom and other rights. The bill will not affect the ability of religious organisations or schools to teach the tenets of their faith. It also ensures that legitimate practices, such as those of counsellors or psychologists working with people to explore issues around sexuality or gender identity, or supporting people with gender affirmation, will not be affected.
As has been outlined, the bill addresses conversion practices in a number of ways. It creates a criminal offence where a person conducts a practice that purports to change the sexuality or gender identity of a protected person, which means a child or young person, or a person with impaired decision-making ability. It will also be a criminal offence to remove a protected person from the ACT for the purposes of conversion practices. These offences are important to deal with the most concerning practices that are performed on people who are particularly vulnerable.
We recognise that the criminal law can have limitations in addressing these complex issues. Consultation with survival groups and advocates confirmed that people who have been harmed by these practices would often prefer a process that gives them the opportunity to be heard and supported, rather than being part of a criminal prosecution. Survivors want the people carrying out such practices to understand the harm that is being caused and to take responsibility for redress.
It can be the case that people who conduct conversion practices have themselves been subject to similar repressive practices, and are victims, as well as perpetrators, of these harmful ideologies. That is why this bill also includes a pathway for people who have been affected by conversion practices to take a complaint to the ACT Human
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