Gay conversion practices have been outlawed in New South Wales and it will be harder for teenage offenders to get bail after two laws passed the state’s parliament overnight.
The laws will, separately, ban conversion practices such as religious “straight camps” that attempt to change someone’s sexual orientation and introduce an extra test for some young people seeking bail.
The ban on conversion practices was one of Labor’s election promises, and was welcomed by equality groups.
The upper house debated the issue in a marathon session overnight before it passed after 6am.
The Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said the right balance had been found for the conversion legislation.
“The sun rises today on a state that is safer for LGBTQ people,” he said.
“LGBTQ people are loved and beautiful, and futile attempts to change or suppress who we are will now be illegal in NSW.”
NSW wakes up a safer place for LGBTQIA+ people with the passage of the Conversion Practices Ban Bill 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/zXhr829TpQ
— Alex Greenwich MP (@AlexGreenwich) March 21, 2024
The Greens upper house MP Cate Faehrmann said the late night was worth it.
“The archaic and cruel practice of conversion therapy will now be banned in NSW,” she said.
“It was worth one hell of a late night to be one step closer to full equality.”
The upper house also voted on the government’s changes to bail restrictions that were announced last week following pressure to act on regional crime.
The changes to the Bail Act introduce an extra test for 14- to 18-year-olds charged with committing certain serious break-and-enter or motor vehicle theft offences while on bail for the same offences and seeking further bail.
Police, magistrates and judges will need a “high degree of confidence” that a young person will not commit a further serious indictable offence if they are granted bail again.
The tougher bail requirements were introduced despite fierce opposition from the community, campaigners and within Labor’s own ranks.
The laws criminalise “posting and boasting” about breaking and entering or motor vehicle theft on social media, in an effort to curb what the attorney-general, Michael Daley, described as “TikTok offences”.
Early on Friday, Daley said: “These changes are the first part of this government’s significant and multifaceted response to regional crime.”
The premier, Chris Minns, ruled out raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 when he announced the laws last week alongside a $26.2m package of initiatives he said would address youth crime in regional NSW.
The Greens justice spokeswoman, Sue Higginson, criticised the changes as “kneejerk law and order responses” that would lead to more children being jailed and push the state further from its Closing the Gap targets.
Darcy Byrne, the Labor mayor of Sydney’s Inner West council, criticised the government ahead of the bill’s passage through the upper house, urging members to vote against the legislation and for the party to consult with Aboriginal groups.
“Thousands of people who campaigned passionately for Yes in the recent referendum are shocked and appalled that just a few months later the NSW government is proposing to make it easier to incarcerate Aboriginal children,” he said.
The Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore, also criticised the legislation.
“Australia’s punitive response to disadvantage … is not working for offenders or victims of crime, and it’s not working for the community at large,” she said.
Late on Wednesday, the government also announced it would hold a parliamentary inquiry into “safety in rural and regional communities” after saying it would not hold a regional crime inquiry.
