‘Fix the Definition’: Conservative MP on Liberal Government’s Conversion Therapy Ban Legislation
The Liberal government’s proposed legislation on conversion therapy would criminalize private conversations between children and their parents, says Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, who is urging parliamentarians to change the definition of “conversion therapy” in the bill before it’s passed.
“The definition of conversion therapy is poorly drafted is out of step with definitions of conversion therapy that are used in other jurisdictions,” Genuis told The Epoch Times in an interview. “It’s so broad as to classify as conversion therapy private conversations, and many kinds of things that actually have nothing to do with conversion therapy.”
January to March crime statistics saw sexual assaults decline, police report.
ACT police are satisfied that the number of officers on the beat have continued to keep the streets safe and criminal offences to a low.
But the recent stance has not quelled the Canberra Liberals calling on the ACT government to increase police presence to match per capita levels in nearby NSW by 2024.
The territory opposition also put forward a motion on Tuesday (March 20) in the Legislative Assembly to demand a “permanent” police station in the Molonglo Valley by 2022.
Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety chair and Liberal, Jeremy Hanson, noted that police numbers in the ACT are poorer than other state or territory jurisdictions even considering the population.
18 April, 2021, 1:00 am
Members of the public raise their concerns during a public consultation at Somosomo, Taveuni. Picture: SERAFINA QALO
THE Fijian Elections Office should improve communication channels with the public, especially on details of the pre-polling period.
This was the view expressed by Somosomo villager Pita Degei to the parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights during consultations on proposed amendments to electoral Bills in Somosomo Village, Taveuni on Wednesday.
He claimed that during the 2018 General Election, some Qamea Island villagers could not vote because of lack of communication from the elections office about changes to pre-polling dates.
Article content
The federal Bill C-6 had its first reading on Oct. 1 and its second on Dec. 11.
The committee’s documents noted the federal Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights had to amend its definition of conversion therapy, re-introduced at the Dec. 11 reading.
That definition says conversion therapy “means a practice, treatment or service designed to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual, to change a person’s gender or gender expression to cisgender, or to repress or reduce nonheterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour or non-cisgender gender expression.”
The definition also says it doesn’t include “a practice, treatment or service that relates to the exploration and development of an integrated personal identity without favouring any particular sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.”