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AAP
AAP
Politics
Peter Bodkin

Gay conversion should be banned in NSW: Labor

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns pledged to outlaw the "dangerous practice" of gay conversion therapy. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Gay conversion therapy will be banned in NSW if the opposition wins the upcoming state election.

Labor leader Chris Minns pledged to outlaw the "dangerous and damaging practice", which he said did not belong in the state.

"We should not have a situation where children are being told something is wrong with them and that they need to be fixed," he said on Saturday.

So-called conversion therapy, which is already outlawed in several states, aims to suppress or change a LGBTQI person's sexuality based on the notion that they require treatment.

Labor said it would ban the practice, establishing a working group with NSW Health and the Department of Justice to produce workable laws.

Key independent MP Alex Greenwich said on Friday he would introduce a bill to end gay conversion therapy in NSW regardless of which party was elected to government in March.

His bill to remove a variety of barriers for LGBTQI communities would stop the practice of changing or suppressing sexual orientation and gender identity.

Mr Greenwich said support for the laws, which were based on the Victorian model, would be critical for him in any deal to support a minority government.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard in 2019 indicated support for the Victorian laws but suggested the issue of conversion therapy should be addressed nationally not on a state-by-state basis.

But opposition health spokesman Ryan Park said NSW was lagging behind other states in taking action on the important issue.

"Conversion and suppression practices are ineffective, do serious damage to health and wellbeing and can cause ongoing trauma," he said.

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