The government is expected to announce a ban on gay conversion therapy on Sunday.
Sources tell Te Ao Māori News it is the biggest part of a wider announcement by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this Sunday in Auckland.
Conversion is also known as reparative therapy, which targets LGBTQ youth to change their sexual or gender identities. It has been rejected by mainstream medical and mental health organisations given the dangerous techniques in the practice.
Last week during Ardern's visit to Waitangi, she told media the government is pushing to ban this practice. Greens Party list MP Elizabeth Kerekere also advocated at Waitangi against conversion therapy.
According to research reparative therapy techniques used in the United States and Western Europe include chemical castration with hormonal treatment, aversive treatments involving electric shock to the hands and/or genitals, and nausea-inducing drugs.
In New Zealand, conversion therapy is usually practised on rangatahi under 25 years.