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NSW is currently undergoing monumental legislative changes that will greatly and adversely affect parents, children, churches, communities and society at large.

With the ‘Conversion Therapy’ Bill now passed, the NSW Government is looking towards furthering the LGBTQIA+ agenda by considering the ‘Equality Bill’. This latter bill is currently before an inquiry – and you are urged to have your say on it by Sunday, 14 April.

Conversion Therapy Bill

The Conversion Therapy Bill makes two different practices illegal. First, it outlaws the practice of attempting to change same-sex attraction to opposite-sex attraction. Second, it outlaws the practice of attempting to change a person who identifies as opposite of their biological sex (transgender) to accept their biological sex.

The basis of the bill was practices such as electric shock therapy – a particularly humiliating and grotesque practice – used on same-sex attracted people in the 60s and 70s.

Such cruel, degrading practices no longer exist in Australia. Neither are they legal. That raises the obvious question: Why was the bill needed?

Democratic Process Trashed

The NSW Conversion Therapy Bill will make far-reaching changes to society. It is staggering how the Labor NSW Government (mis)handled the process.

Only select groups were consulted about the bill – and the list of these is still secret. The Liberal/National Coalition was only notified about the bill at the time it was introduced into the NSW parliament. The bill passed only one week later.

This meant the Coalition and the public had only several days to voice concerns about the bill and raise it with their elected representatives.

When the Bills Committee sensibly referred the bill to an inquiry (as is standard practice), Labor and the Greens teamed up to overturn this decision and quash a public inquiry. They refused the public inquiry by a single vote.

Our parliamentary system is supposedly one where the public can see and engage in the process. The democratic practice was trashed in this instance.

A ‘Non-Debate’ in the Upper House

The debate in the NSW upper house began at 11:05 pm on Thursday night (21 March). The final vote took place just before 6:30 am on Friday morning.

Opposition Liberal leader Damien Tudehope took aim at the Government’s plan to introduce the bill at such a late hour. “This is a very significant piece of legislation, and we are starting to debate it at 11:10 pm at night”, he said.

“People who wanted to speak on the legislation, or who may have wanted to move amendments to it, may well have gone home. They might be too tired to do so or they might not do so because of the late hour.”

“That… is an abuse of democracy.”

The bill passed 22 votes to 4.

Debate Against the Bill Ignored

Amendments moved by Shooters, Farmers and Fishers, One Nation, John Ruddick and the Coalition centred on attempting to remove ‘gender identity’ from the bill. The Coalition attempted to strengthen some provisions around religious freedom. Mark Latham moved a motion that such an important debate be delayed to a time different to three in the morning.

These amendments and motions all narrowly failed. Often falling short by a single vote.

The amendment and speech by John Ruddick, beginning at 2:42 am, was particularly memorable. It has since had over 153,300 views on X.

Ruddick prioritises the individual’s autonomy in choosing a counselling service. He believes the government should keep out of this process.

“We support individuals or institutions offering a counselling service that attempts to convince people that they are not same-sex attracted or that they are not transgender,” he said.

“Of course, we do not support conversion practices that involve physical assault or mental anguish, but those acts are already crimes.”

“I am sceptical of the success of counselling efforts regarding same-sex attraction. But if people want to give it a go, we do not want the heavy hand of the State forbidding free citizens engaging in a mutually agreed private arrangement.”

Resistance Against Transgender ‘Affirmation Care’ is Growing

The NSW Parliament heard loud and clear the damning evidence against ‘gender affirmation care’. At the very time the bill was introduced into the parliament, the National Health Service (NHS) in England banned puberty-blocking drugs for minors.

Why? Because “there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty-suppressing hormones.”

Additionally, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) recently had its internal documents leaked.

The documents reveal that some WPATH practitioners know full well that children are not capable of informed consent. Additionally, they are aware that science and medicine do not support their ideology. But they continue, regardless. It is a medical and ethical scandal.

John Ruddick was at pains to point out these recent developments in his speech.

And how were these arguments rebutted?

The Labor leader of the Government Penny Sharpe replied, “I am not going to get into this debate tonight over the many assertions made in the Hon. John Ruddick’s contribution.”

Sharpe repeated her logically blunt argument, saying, “I am not going to get into hammer and tongs about all of that, except to say that the Government does not support these amendments.”

No argument. No debate. Just a complete willingness to blindly support gender ideology despite the mounting evidence against it.

Greens leader Dr Amanda Cohn’s attempt to justify puberty blockers for children was jaw-droppingly ignorant. The former GP correctly pointed out that puberty blockers were designed to treat early-onset puberty. And that “testosterone is used to treat testosterone deficiency in older men.” For these purposes, hormonal medications work well. True.

Cohn then made the staggering ill-leap in logic, “We know how they work, and we know how they work for trans and gender-diverse people as well.”

It is one thing to use a medication to treat early-onset puberty for a limited amount of time. It is an entirely different matter to use it to block puberty in an individual forever and prevent a child’s body from naturally developing into an adult’s.

That a former medical practitioner can conflate two entirely different uses for a medication is unbelievably dangerous.

The ABC’s headline after the Conversion Therapy Bill passed is also revealing. It reads, “NSW bans gay conversion therapy” – but makes no explicit mention of the transgender issue.

Why?

The ABC knows the evidence, as well as the vast majority of the public, does not support gender ideology. So, it conveniently neglects to mention it in its reporting.

Those advocating for gender ideology are ducking and weaving.

Political Engagement is Important

NSW parliamentarians received an enormous amount of public contact over this bill. Liberal leader in the upper house Damien Tudehope revealed, “I have received more emails about this particular bill than any other bill introduced in this place.”

Fellow Liberal Timothy James told the lower house, “Not surprisingly, I have received many hundreds of letters about this bill, just in the last week. These overwhelming, by a factor of about 20 to 1, raise concerns about, question and [express] dismay [about this bill].”

Similarly, Mark Banasiak from Shooters, Farmers and Fishers put on record, “We have had overwhelming public support to our office, including from the lesbian and gay community, asking us to omit all references to the term ‘gender identity’.

Public engagement with the political process does not guarantee a particular outcome.

But it does ensure that parliamentarians know the public who vote for them care about issues and are watching their response.

Conversion Therapy Bill: Enforcing Rainbow Ideology

What NSW Labor and the Greens have done is pass a bill aimed at gay conversion therapy – such as electric shock therapy – which doesn’t happen (and is already illegal).

This has been done to protect transgender conversion ‘therapy’ in children which is happening (but should be illegal).

Labor leader Penny Sharpe admitted as much. She said, “the Government’s election commitment was to ban LGBTQ+ conversion practices. The ‘T’ is in there, and that is what it is about.”

And it has been done to make even questioning homosexuality a sin.

‘Equality’ Bill Now Open to Public Survey

With the Conversion Therapy Bill now passed, the NSW Government is considering the Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2023.

In short, the ‘Equality’ bill will further entrench transgender ideology and make opposition to it unlawful. For many reasons, the bill must be opposed in its entirety.

The NSW Government is only allowing the public to engage in a multiple-choice questionnaire. No comments are allowed. No public submissions will be accepted. It is a farce of an ‘inquiry’ – completely in line with the way the Conversion Therapy Bill was (mis)handled.

Nevertheless, making the most of every opportunity to engage positively in the political process is important.

As many people as possible should complete the NSW Government survey and oppose every amendment proposed in the bill.

You have until Sunday, 14 April to have your say. Take the survey here.

Appendix: Voting Record on Conversion Therapy Bill

Votes for the bill:

Parliamentarian	Party
Abigail Boyd	Greens
Jeremy Buckingham	Legalise Cannabis
Mark Buttigieg	Labor
Amanda Cohn	Greens
Anthony D’Adam	Labor
Cate Faehrmann	Greens
Wes Fang	Nationals
Sue Higginson	Greens
Emma Hurst	Animal Justice
Sarah Kaine	Labor
Stephen Lawrence	Labor
Aileen MacDonald	Liberal
Daniel Mookhey	Labor
Tara Moriarty	Labor
Jacqui Munro	Liberal
Cameron Murphy	Labor
Bob Nanva	Labor
Peter Primrose	Labor
Chris Rath	Liberal
Penny Sharpe	Labor
Emily Suvaal	Labor
Natalie Ward	Liberal

 

Votes against the bill:

Parliamentarian	Party
Mark Banasiak	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers
Robert Borsak	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers
Tania Mihailuk	Pauline Hanson’s One Nation
John Ruddick	Libertarian (Liberal Democrats)

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Photo by Tim Samuel.