would be "keeping in mind that there will be those who perceive that it's a part of their freedom of expression within their religion". In November 2019 the Justice Select Committee failed to recommend a ban, concluding: "we believe more work needs to be done before any decision is taken to ban it. In particular, thought must be given to how to define conversion therapy, who the ban would apply to, and how to ensure that rights relating to freedom of expression and religion were maintained". Recent reports have shown that conversion therapy is "widespread" in New Zealand, including the practise of exorcism, therapy, drugs or other means. In a prominent 2016 review, six experts including J. Michael Bailey say there is little scientific evidence to support the efficacy of conversion therapy. The available lab studies which measured arousal responses of men who claimed to have changed their sexual orientation through such treatments still showed arousal responses to men, not women. While people may claim to have changed their orientation through such interventions often due to pressure or shame, their underlying orientation remains the same. At the 9th New Zealand Youth Parliament, Youth MP Shaneel Lal advocated for a ban on conversion therapy in New Zealand. In 2019, Lal founded the Conversion Therapy Action Group to work towards ending conversion therapy. Lal worked with the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand to deliver a petition of over more than 150,000 signatures to ban conversion therapy. In late July 2021, Justice Minister Kris Faafoi introduced the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, which seeks to ban conversion therapy in New Zealand. The bill creates two new criminal offences for either the most serious cases of harm or where there is heightened risk of harm. The proposed legislation makes it an offense to perform conversion therapy on anyone with a five years prison term. On 6 August 2021, the Bill passed its first reading with the support of all political parties except the opposition National Party, which wanted provisions protecting parents from prosecution. National's youth wing disagreed with their own party, supporting the legislation. The Justice Select Committee hearing submissions on the Bill received over a 100,000 submissions following Lal's online campaign, breaking the record for number of submissions. In early February 2022, the National Party abandoned its bloc voting position on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill. The party's new leader Christopher