Gagged.
Therapists and parents risk being reported for exploring a young person’s gender distress.
We support protecting lesbian, gay and bisexual people from coercive and abusive attempts to change or suppress their sexual orientation.
The Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill 2026 is intended to protect people from harmful conversion practices. Our concern is that its reach and uncertainty may have another effect: making professionals more reluctant to work with gender-distressed young people and young adults who need time and space to explore what is driving their distress.
Four ways the Bill creates risk and may deter therapists
Section 5
Uncertainty
The Bill tells us what a conversion practice is not, but gives no concrete examples of what conduct is prohibited, leaving the boundary unclear for therapists doing exploratory work.
Section 5(3)
Uneven protection
Ahpra-registered health practitioners have a specific health-service protection. Counsellors and psychotherapists who are not Ahpra-registered do not get that same protection.
Sections 10–12, Parts 5–8
Criminal, civil and regulatory consequences
The Bill goes far beyond criminal offences. It creates reporting and investigation processes, compliance and Tribunal proceedings, and potential compensation and civil consequences.
Section 27
Third-party reporting
Anyone can report an alleged conversion practice, whether or not they were affected. Someone outside the therapy room can initiate a report.
Why we’re concerned
The Bill protects genuine identity exploration. It also specifically protects health practitioners helping someone explore their identity without directing, predetermining or seeking to influence the outcome.
Our concern is whether those protections outweigh the uncertainty and legal risks created elsewhere in the Bill. We do not believe they do.
The Bill defines conversion practices by their purpose, but does not give concrete examples of the contemporary therapeutic conduct that crosses the line. Emeritus Professor Patrick Parkinson AM argues that this uncertainty, combined with the consequences attached to the definition, risks making mental-health professionals reluctant to work with gender-distressed young people.
The practical question is not simply whether exploratory therapy is technically permitted. It is whether professionals are confident enough that it is permitted to keep doing it.
If therapists withdraw from this area, refuse gender-distressed clients or become reluctant to explore sexuality, mental health, trauma, family circumstances and other possible sources of distress, young people and young adults may have fewer places to go. This is the chilling effect identified by Emeritus Professor Patrick Parkinson AM in his analysis of the Bill.
A therapy gag does not require therapy to be explicitly banned. It can happen when the legal risk of providing therapy makes professionals think twice about providing it.
Your Questions Answered
Does the Bill ban therapy?
No. The Bill expressly protects genuine identity exploration. Our concern is that the boundary between protected exploration and prohibited attempts to change or suppress a gender identity may not always be clear, and some therapists may decide the risk is not worth taking.
How does the Bill define a conversion practice?
Section 5 defines it as conduct directed at a person, on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, for the purpose of changing, suppressing or eradicating that orientation or identity, or inducing the person to do so.
The Bill lists numerous things that are not conversion practices, but gives no concrete examples of conduct that is.
Does the Bill protect exploratory therapy?
Yes. The Bill protects genuine identity exploration. It also specifically protects health practitioners helping someone explore their identity without directing, predetermining or seeking to influence the outcome.
Our concern is whether those protections outweigh the uncertainty and legal risks created elsewhere in the Bill. We do not believe they do.
Who is protected and who isn’t?
Ahpra-registered health practitioners, including psychologists and doctors, have a specific protection when providing appropriate health services in good faith and in accordance with relevant legal, professional and ethical requirements.
Counsellors and psychotherapists who are not registered health practitioners do not have that same protection, although the Bill separately protects genuine identity exploration.
Who can make a report?
Anyone. Section 27 allows any person to report an alleged conversion practice, whether or not they were affected by it. Someone outside the therapy room can therefore initiate a report.
Can the Commissioner investigate without a complaint?
Yes, in specified circumstances. The Commissioner can initiate an investigation without a report where the matter meets the Bill’s requirements, including that it raises a serious issue, indicates a possible contravention and relates to or may affect a class or group of people.
What can happen if someone is accused of a conversion practice?
It is not just a question of criminal prosecution. The Bill creates criminal offences as well as reporting and regulatory processes. Serious or systemic matters may be investigated, and the framework includes enforceable undertakings, compliance notices, Tribunal proceedings and potential compensation.
Why does this matter to LGB people?
Gender-nonconforming young people need time and space to understand themselves, including their developing sexuality. Some may grow up to be lesbian, gay or bisexual.
Our concern is that if therapists become reluctant to provide open-ended exploratory care, these young people could lose access to the support they need to understand themselves before decisions with lasting consequences are made.
Is this Gay Conversion 2.0?
That is the question we believe LGB people are entitled to ask.
Conversion practices historically tried to change or suppress sexual orientation. Today, a gender-nonconforming young person’s emerging same-sex attraction may be understood through a different gender identity before the young person has had time to understand it.
If the law discourages professionals from exploring that possibility, while a pathway towards social or medical transition remains open, the result may be a new threat to the development and recognition of same-sex orientation.
What can I do?
Tasmanians: sign the petition by 26 October.
Everyone: share this page with lesbian, gay and bisexual friends and community groups.