Hi Supporters!

There's some bad news from Tasmania. After a landmark report from the Tasmanian Law Reform institute, some strong, brave, eloquent advocacy from Tasmanian survivors, and eighteen months of drafting, the Government has released the nation's worst draft conversion bill.

According to Rodney Croome from Equality Tasmania the bill has five main problems
- a narrow, inaccurate definition of conversion practices
- exemptions for those conversion practices that Australia’s world-leading research has shown to be the most common and most harmful. This includes practices that take the guise of religious “beliefs”, parental “guidance” and “assistance” for people considering gender transition.
- an exemption for adults who consent to conversion practices if they are told there may be harm, despite the fact that research and survivor testimony in Tasmania and nationally clearly indicate it is impossible to offer informed consent to conversion practices.
- no designated body to investigate or educate, despite the fact that conversion practices have been proven to be both highly secretive and grounded in an alarmingly prevalent ideology of misinformation and pseudoscience
- an impossibly high bar for prosecutions

In Rodney's words, "This bill is worse than useless... It sets a terrible precedent for the nation and is a slap in the face to the Tasmanian conversion survivors who have bared their souls to stop conversion practices."

But Rodney said Equality Tasmania and the state's survivors are not giving up. He urges people to make a submission to the two month consultation that started this week and to sign this petition.

He asks allies to look out for a social media campaign highlighting the need for good legislation and the problems with the current bill to be launched soon.

Tasmanian Government consultation link here.