Gay conversion therapy will be banned in New South Wales if the opposition wins the upcoming state election after a key crossbencher pushed the major parties to outlaw the practice.
The Labor leader, Chris Minns, pledged to put an end to the “dangerous and damaging” therapy, which he said did not belong in the state.
“We should not have a situation where children are being told something is wrong with them and that they need to be fixed,” he said on Saturday.
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So-called conversion therapy, which is already outlawed in several states, aims to suppress or change a LGBTQI person’s sexuality based on the notion that they require treatment.
The independent MP Alex Greenwich said on Friday he would introduce a bill to end gay conversion therapy in NSW regardless of which party was elected to government in March.
His bill to remove a variety of barriers for LGBTQI communities would stop the practice of changing or suppressing sexual orientation and gender identity.
Greenwich said support for the laws, which were based on the Victorian model, would be critical for him in any deal to support a minority government.
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But the NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, was coy on whether he would back the change if re-elected, saying his government dealt with all proposed legislation on its merits.
“I always encourage people to work through those issues and treat everybody with respect, understanding and tolerance – and that’s what our government has always been about,” he said on Saturday.
The NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, in 2019 indicated support for the Victorian laws but suggested the issue of conversion therapy should be addressed nationally not on a state-by-state basis.
Labor said it would establish a working group with NSW Health and the Department of Justice to produce workable laws to ban conversion therapy.
The opposition health spokesman, Ryan Park, said NSW was lagging behind other states in taking action on the important issue.
“Conversion and suppression practices are ineffective, do serious damage to health and wellbeing and can cause ongoing trauma,” he said.