The WA government says it will bring in legislation to stop conversion therapy if it wins a third term in government.
The government had committed to introducing legislation in 2002 following a parliamentary inquiry into the operations of Esther House.
The report into the activities at Perth’s religious based facility Esther House highlighted Western Australia’s lack of legislation specifically outlawing conversion practices and suppression practices that aim to change a person’s sexuality or gender.
This week a spokesperson for Attorney General John Quigly told the ABC that “there will not be enough time” to bring in the legislation during this term of government.
In April Quigley told online youth radio station Youth Jam that developing the legislation was difficult for a variety of reasons citing concern from Indigenous Australians and religious groups.
Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania are the only states that have not introduced legislation in this area. Earlier this week South Australia began the process of changing their laws.
Chris Bedding, who is an Anglican priest and member of Ending Conversion Practices WA told the ABC that while many people would find the government’s delay frustrating it is important that they get the legislation right.
Bedding said he had been told that the legislation would be introduced before the end of 2025 if the Labor government was success in being re-elected for a third term.
The government has been looking into the issue since 2017.
The Australian Christian Lobby has been arguing that the legislation is not required. Their spokesperson, former Liberal MP Peter Abetz, said he did not believe the practice occurred.
“I don’t believe that any coercive type of activity is happening, and if it is, there are laws I’m sure that can deal with that, because nobody has the right to coerce another person to undergo any kind of psychological treatment or medical treatment of any sort,” he said.
“But the issue with conversion therapy is those who are advocating for it, they don’t want it limited just to coercive measures, but even simply hearing someone express a view different to their own, they sometimes classify that as being exposed to conversion therapy.”
Read the SOGICE Survivor Statement
The SOGICE Survivor statement is written by survivors of the LGBTQA+ Conversion movement and their allies, and endorsed by advocates, organisations and community groups that support, or are led by, LGBTIQA+ people of faith.
The statement calls on Australian Governments to join a growing number of jurisdictions across the world by intervening to stop the LGBTQA+ Conversion movement from harming LGBTQA+ Australians.
Concern about WA being a safe haven for questionable practices was first raised back in 2021.
WA based organisation True Identity, who offer counselling services to people who want to deal with ‘unwanted same sex attraction’, were lobbying the government to resist bringing in conversion therapy bans, and reported that people were coming to WA to escape the laws in other states.
The group is led by prominent activist James Parker who claims he was able to leave behind a gay lifestyle through prayer and counselling.
In interviews Parker has detailed that he was able to stop acting on homosexual impulses after uncovering repressed memories of his childhood sexual abuse. In more recent interviews Parker has shared recollections where he describes how he dealt with gender incongruence which he says stems from how he was dressed in his childhood.
Parker was a prominent member of the campaign against marriage equality claiming that gay sex leads to an early death, and has compared conversion therapy bans to the Nazi Gestapo, and the Stasi secret police – who operated in communist East Germany.
He regularly appears alongside Peter Abetz from the Australian Christian Lobby. After a series of appearances in the lead up to the marriage postal survey, Parker and Abetz toured their ‘Real Lives’ presentation to several Western Australian towns. Their appearances in Albany and Geraldton drew protests.
