{"id":82971,"date":"2026-08-29T21:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T21:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/82971\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T21:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T21:02:23","slug":"tasmanias-deputy-premier-guy-barnett-potentially-at-odds-with-premier-over-conversion-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/82971\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasmania’s Deputy Premier Guy Barnett potentially at odds with premier over conversion ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tasmania’s deputy premier and attorney-general has called a push from the Greens to ban conversion practices “fundamentally flawed”.<\/p>\n

In a letter to anti-trans and feminist group Women Speak Tasmania, Mr Barnett has written that a bill tabled by the Greens<\/a> risks criminalising “certain conversations between a parent and their child and conversions within families” while also being too ambiguous.<\/p>\n

“What exactly is the problem the Greens are seeking to fix?” Mr Barnett wrote in the letter, obtained by the ABC.<\/p>\n

The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute found in 2022 that “severe harm” had been caused by conversion practices, which refer to attempts to suppress or convert a person’s gender or sexual identity.<\/p>\n

Calls for conversion therapy ban<\/a><\/p>\n

Three Australians who underwent conversion “therapy”\u00a0to change their sexual orientation say there was nothing therapeutic about what happened to them, as they call for a ban on the practice.<\/p>\n

It found the practices were still happening in Tasmania, and recommended the state follow the lead of most other Australian states by outlawing them.<\/p>\n

While the state government committed to banning the practices, a 2023 bill introduced by the government was criticised for having “too many loopholes”,<\/a> and there has been no follow up.<\/p>\n

The Greens released their own draft bill<\/a> in June this year, saying it would make a “profound difference”.<\/p>\n

Greens’ bill ‘extreme’: Barnett<\/p>\n

In his letter to Women Speak Tasmania, Mr Barnett called the draft bill “amongst the most extreme of its type in Australia”.<\/p>\n

“The draft Bill risks criminalising certain conversations between a parent and their child and conversations within families,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

“Sadly, the draft Bill risks criminalising conversations and or prayers in a church or religious setting.”<\/p>\n

The Greens’ draft bill defines conversion practices<\/a> as conduct for the purpose of “changing, suppressing or eradicating the sexual orientation or gender identity of the person”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Greens drafted a bill that would ban conversion practices in Tasmania. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)<\/p>\n

It also includes carve-outs for religious expression including prayer, and for parents discussing matters relating to the sexual or gender orientation of their children.<\/p>\n

Mr Barnett said this was “broad and ambiguous”.<\/p>\n

“Further, Tasmanians should not be subject to unfair investigations or lengthy quasi-judicial processes based on misleading or false complaints,” he said.<\/p>\n

Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said the deputy premier’s comments suggested he “doesn’t accept the evidence that conversion practices are happening”.<\/p>\n

“Our proposed bill isn’t radical \u2014 it’s directly in line with what other states have already legislated,” Dr Woodruff said.\"Rosalie<\/p>\n

Rosalie Woodruff holding the Greens’ Conversion Practice Prohibition Bill. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)<\/p>\n

Practices ‘deeply harm’ vulnerable people<\/p>\n

Equality Tasmania’s Rodney Croome hit back at Mr Barnett’s questioning what the problem was with conversion practices.<\/p>\n

“This bill is about prohibiting treatments that don’t work for a condition that doesn’t exist undertaken by people who aren’t qualified on victims who will be deeply harmed,” Mr Croome said.<\/p>\n

“The problem the bill is trying to solve is that conversion practices purport to ‘heal’ vulnerable LGBTIQA+ people but actually deeply harm and sometimes kill them.”<\/p>\n

He said nobody had been convicted in other Australian states for “a conversation or a prayer, as Mr Barnett claims would happen in Tasmania”.<\/p>\n

\"Rodney<\/p>\n

Rodney Croome says conversion practices “deeply harm and sometimes kill” vulnerable LGBTIQA+ people. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)<\/p>\n

Dr Woodruff said she was making changes to the draft bill based on feedback her party had received.<\/p>\n

“As part of that process we met with many stakeholders, including the deputy premier in person, and have taken on board some of their concerns,” she said.<\/p>\n

Women Speak Tasmania President Elizabeth Caballero urged the government to establish a parliamentary inquiry into the issue before debating a bill.<\/p>\n

Government supports ban, but position on bill unknown<\/p>\n

The government is yet to declare how it will vote on the Greens’ bill.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Barnett’s letter potentially puts him at odds with Premier Jeremy Rockliff, who has repeatedly said he supports banning conversion practices.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jeremy Rockliff has repeatedly said he supports banning conversion practices. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

“There are some concerns with the draft bill and we are yet to see a final version,” Mr Rockliff said.<\/p>\n

“I have always supported a ban on conversion therapy, but the legislation needs to be balanced to achieve that outcome.”<\/p>\n

He said if the Greens wanted broader consensus on the bill “they will need to knock the rough edges off”.<\/p>\n

Mr Rockliff said “freedom of expression, religion and speech is a fundamental principle of the Liberal Party”.<\/p>\n

“If any member of my team wants a conscience vote it will be granted,” he said.<\/p>\n

Labor and several other crossbenchers have indicated support for the Greens’ bill, meaning government support may not be needed for it to pass.<\/p>\n

Attempts to ban conversion practices nationwide and in Tasmania have also been opposed by the Australian Christian Lobby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tasmania’s deputy premier and attorney-general has called a push from the Greens to ban conversion practices “fundamentally flawed”.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,5963,133330,22074,2547,133331,8118,33924,13592,3218,72956,5247,18284,133332],"class_list":["post-82971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-church","tag-conversion","tag-debate","tag-government","tag-guy-barnett","tag-jeremy-rockliff","tag-lgbt","tag-lgbtqia","tag-parliament","tag-practice","tag-tasmania","tag-therapy","tag-women-speak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}