The Prime Minister is acknowledging that gay conversion therapy is religious freedom for some, in response to the Justice Select Committee's decision not to recommend a ban on the controversial practice. Jacinda Ardern told reporters at her post-Cabinet press conference on Monday that she "wouldn't mind taking the time to look at the select committee report".

Ardern said the practice is "something that I know our LGBTI community rightly so feels very strongly about, and it's an issue that I do have concerns about". She said she's worried that "often you have very vulnerable, particularly young people, in that situation, and so I think the select committee is right to be concerned about those vulnerable young people". But she said the committee 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".

The committee published its response last week to two petitions from August and September of last year calling on the Government to ban the practice. Gay conversion therapy is based on a belief that people with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities are abnormal and should be changed so they fit within hetero-normative standards.

Newshub reported last year that the practice is offered in New Zealand for $200 an hour, to help people unlearn homosexuality. In New Zealand, it is considered unethical behaviour for registered counsellors to provide conversion therapy. But the committee noted that unregistered individuals or religious groups may offer it in accordance with their beliefs. Read more via News Hub