Religious discrimination bill will not override laws to ban gay conversion therapy

Christian Porter suggests claim the bill could harm Victorian ban on conversion therapy is either 'inept' or 'malicious'

The attorney general Christian Porter has emphatically rejected the Victorian government's claim the religious discrimination bill could harm its proposed ban on gay conversion therapy.

In comments to Guardian Australia, Porter accused the Andrews Labor government of a "clear lack of understanding" of the bill which he said preserves states' rights to pass their own laws, suggesting the criticism was either inept or malicious.