New laws before the Victorian parliament will outlaw therapy that attempts to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Attorney-General Jill Hennessy on Wednesday described the practice of gay conversion therapy as “bigoted quackery”.

“Our government is very firmly of the view that gay, lesbian and trans people, they don’t need to be fixed, they are perfect the way they are,” she told reporters outside parliament.

“What we won’t stand by is to have services, whether they’re therapeutic health services or pretending to be, or religious techniques, imposing on people something I think is the height of cruelty.”