Today in parliament, Kristie Johnston MP spoke about conversion practices, sharing the heart-wrenching story of Mark (not his real name) who underwent 21 years of conversion practices, which "...culminated in him suffering a break-down in his early fifties..." Mark's story was detailed in a story in The Examiner earlier this week.

Ms Johnston referred to a La Trobe research study which found that 1 in 20 LGBTQ+ youth in Australia have undergone conversion practices, and that those youth are up top four times as likely to have PTSD and to have attempted suicide than other LGBTQ+ youth.

The question was put to Hon. Elise Archer, "Attorney-General, do you agree that conversion practices cause deep psychological harm and trauma? If so, will you help save lives and support a legislative ban to prohibit conversion practices in Tasmania?"

Ms Archer responded (watch here), saying that careful consideration would be given to the recommendations given in the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute's (TLRI) report, referring to the report (yet to be released) following the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conversion Practices Issues Paper, for which submissions closed in January.