Victoria is one step closer to banning gay conversion therapy after a majority of lower house MPs voted in support of the legislation, which Premier Daniel Andrews described as life-changing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill passed the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, the final parliamentary sitting day of the year.
All 55 MPs in the chamber voted in favour of the bill, while the opposition were not present.
An amendment put forward by the opposition to pause the progress of the bill to enable consultation with religious groups over the summer break failed.
The bill will be debated in the Legislative Council when parliament resumes in 2021.
The bill outlaws any therapy that attempts to change or suppress a person's sexual orientation or gender identity and empowers the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to investigate reports of conversion practices.
It also puts in place strong criminal sanctions for people who subject others to conversion practices that cause injury or serious injury - with up to 10 years' jail for the latter.
Those who try to get around the laws by sending people to conversion practices out of the state would also face criminal sanctions and fines to a maximum of almost $10,000.
The bill goes further than a similar law passed earlier this year in Queensland in that it prohibits harmful practices not only in healthcare settings but also in religious settings.
It expressly bans "carrying out a religious practice including but not limited to, a prayer based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism".
The premier was among a number of MPs who made powerful speeches in support of the bill.
"This bill will change lives. This bill will save lives," Mr Andrews said.
"Every person has the right to be proud of who they are and who they love, and should never be required to hide away, let alone apologise for their identity.
"You are not broken. You are not in need of treatment. You are you and you are equal."
Mr Andrews hit back at faith leaders, who have expressed concerns the bill impedes on religious freedoms.
"Some faith leaders have been critical of these provisions, critical of a law to ban the worst form of bigoted quackery imaginable," he said.
"This is not kindness and love, or the protection of the vulnerable and persecuted. This is not something to be proud of. This is not what I pray for.
"Victoria is a secular state. If equality is difficult for you, then that's on you."
It comes after a number of conversion therapy survivors and multi-faith members of the LGBTI community spoke outside parliament on Thursday morning, imploring MPs to support the bill.
Reverend Avril Hannah-Jones, a minister in the Uniting Church, said she strongly supported the bill.
"One of the most painful things that can happen to a queer person of faith is being told that they have been somehow mismade by God, that somehow their sexuality or their gender identity was a mistake," she said.
"This bill seeks to prevent harm being done, it's not an infringement on anyone's religious freedom because our religious freedom stops as soon as we do harm to anybody."
Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien has reserved the party's position on the bill in the upper house, where the government will need opposition or crossbench support for it to pass.
He also refused to say whether a conscious vote would be allowed.
Australian Associated Press
