Victorian Liberals reserve call on gay conversion therapy vote

The party is calling on the Andrews government to pause the gay conversion therapy bill amid internal tensions over the issue.

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Victorian Liberal leader Michael O’Brien says the party has reserved its decision on whether to allow upper house MPs a conscience vote on the Andrews government’s gay conversion therapy bill, amid internal tensions over the issue.

The bill was one of several topics discussed as Liberals met face-to-face for the first time in months at Tuesday morning’s Liberal party room meeting, which was called after a group of backbench MPs expressed dissatisfaction with Mr O’Brien’s leadership following a partial reshuffle of shadow cabinet on Sunday.

The reshuffle saw the shadow cabinet expanded to 23 members — one shadow minister more than the government has ministers — with Mr O’Brien refusing to say on Tuesday how the 23rd person would be paid.

It also saw former leader Matthew Guy returned to the front bench in the finance, jobs and trade portfolios, and deputy leader Cindy McLeish shifted from education to tourism, sport and major events.

Despite some MPs privately predicting a heated showdown ahead of the meeting, few had anything to say to waiting media as they departed the party room.

Of the five MPs who called for the meeting to take place face-to-face, Member for Polwarth in southwest Victoria Richard Riordan was the only one who commented publicly, saying it was a “good meeting” as he departed.

“Everything’s sorted. It’s marvellous,” Mr Riordan said when asked if his issues had been discussed.

‘Legitimate questions’ over gay conversion therapy bill

Holding a press conference following the meeting, Mr O’Brien said there had been a “very thorough discussion” regarding the conversion therapy bill in the party room, with the party resolving to call for an amendment in the lower house requiring the government to pause the legislation and consult more widely over summer.

The amendment is highly unlikely to succeed, given Labor holds 55 of 88 Legislative Assembly seats.

“The discussion revolved around the fact that there is an absolute support for the idea of banning these sort of coercive conversion therapies. There is no place for that in Australia in 2020,” Mr O’Brien said.

“It‘s a position that’s also been echoed by the federal Liberal government, and it’s one that we are very much on board with. There’s no place for a sort of coercive and frankly inhumane conversion therapies.

“There are concerns that have been raised about aspects of the bill: the impact on the roles of parents and their children, impacts on the roles of faith communities and their ability to teach their religions.

“So what we’re doing is we’re going to call on the government to just pause on the bill, and use this summer to consult with those communities and to answer questions.”

Asked how he would personally vote on the issue, and whether he would allow MPs a conscience vote, Mr O’Brien said: “Well clearly the bill will go through the lower house. Look we’ll reserve our position in the upper house because we do hope that can be some further consultation and discussion.”

Catholic Archbishop Peter Comensoli has described the bill’s reference to prayer as a significant threat to religious freedom.

On his way into parliament on Tuesday morning, outspoken Liberal frontbencher Tim Smith said no conscience vote was required on the bill because it was a sensible law change.

“I read reports about people praying, or some such to stop people from being gay or some rubbish. I mean this is nonsense. You are what you are,” Mr Smith said.

“You know, I prayed 20 years ago that I‘d be 6”4, well I’m 5”10.”

Victorian MP Tim Smith. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Crosling

‘A united team’

Mr O’Brien said it had been “great” to have all 31 members of his party room in the same room.

“We had a very positive, very constructive meeting,” he said.

“It was a great way to finish off the year.”

Asked whether his team was united, Mr O’Brien said: “Yeah, absolutely.”

Payment of 23rd shadow minister ‘a matter for Liberals’

Asked whether he had resolved whether all 23 of his shadow ministers would be paid their full salaries given the opposition is only entitled to taxpayer funds for 22, Mr O’Brien said it was “not the first time” that a shadow cabinet had been larger than the cabinet.

“There’s a reason for that. It’s because the government’s got all the resources. They’ve got all the public service, they’ve got paid parliamentary secretaries,” Mr O’Brien said.

“There’s a reason why we need to have a slightly bigger front bench than the government does, because frankly, we’ve got a bigger job to do with fewer resources, so that’s a matter that we deal with.”

Asked whether one shadow minister would go without full pay, Mr O’Brien said: “Everyone is getting paid a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.”

Asked how he would achieve that, and whether he could rule out using Liberal Party money to pay the 23rd person, Mr O’Brien said: “That is a matter for us.”

MPs are obliged to declare any income they receive from sources other than their parliamentary salaries.

“All of our members will comply with all parliamentary standards,” Mr O’Brien said when asked whether any supplementary payment would be declared.

Appearing alongside Ms McLeish and his treasury spokeswoman Louise Staley, Mr O’Brien denied that his two most senior female colleagues had been sidelined in Sunday’s reshuffle, which saw Ms McLeish moved out of the education portfolio and Mr Guy moved into the economics portfolio alongside Ms Staley.

“That’s quite a silly thing to say, with respect. Goodness me,” Mr O’Brien said.

“I mean Louise Staley is the shadow treasurer. She is the lead shadow minister in the economics team. We saw that with her budget response. We‘ve got a government that’s just blown their Triple A. We need a strong team. We’ve got a strong team when it comes to economics, led by Louise Staley.

“Cindy McLeish is a fantastic deputy. She’s the Member for Eildon which is a huge tourism area. If anybody thinks that tourism and major events aren’t an important part of our economic recovery, they don’t understand much about Victoria or economics, and if anybody thinks that the person responsible for sport doesn’t have a very important place to play in the Victorian psyche, they don’t understand Victorians very much either.”