The federal government has tasked the National Health and Medical Research Council with coming up with new guidelines for the treatment of trans and gender diverse children.
The federal government has tasked the National Health and Medical Research Council with coming up with new guidelines for the treatment of trans and gender diverse children.
By Mike Foley and Michael Bachelard
January 31, 2025 — 2.01pm
Australia’s treatment of transgender children and adolescents will be put through the scrutiny of a thorough medical inquiry after the federal government announced a landmark review on Friday.
Health Minister Mark Butler said that interim advice on the use of one part of that treatment, puberty blockers, will be completed in the middle of next year.
Butler has appointed Australia’s peak medical body, the National Health and Medical Research Council, to develop new national guidelines in place of state guidelines that have seen an explosion in the number of young people transitioning gender.
The review will examine the prescription of both puberty blockers, which stop young adolescents from developing secondary sex features, and also so-called “cross-sex” hormones used to transition young people so their appearance matches their gender identity.
Much of this work has been done in specialised gender clinics based at state children’s hospitals.
The government has not yet indicated whether the use of either puberty blockers or hormone therapy has been paused nationally while the NHMRC inquiry takes place.
Butler said the inquiry would be “driven by evidence and conducted by our most eminent medical researchers and clinicians, engaging with Australians with lived experience”.
Butler’s review follows the Queensland government’s move, announced on Tuesday, to pause the prescription of puberty blockers for young people and order public health facilities to cease offering such interventions to new patients. It was the first state in Australia to do so.
Butler sought advice from the NHMRC and the Therapeutic Goods Administration before launching the review and said it was imperative that “highly vulnerable children and adolescents” receive treatment based on the best available evidence.
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“We want young people and their families to receive the best health care, led by the best available evidence and wrap-around support,” he said.
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“It is imperative there is community confidence that Australian children, adolescents and their families are receiving the most appropriate care.”
The review will scrutinise the Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for Trans and Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents.
Butler said his review was prompted by a Tuesday announcement Queensland Minister Tim Nicholls that the Queensland government would pause the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
“I’ve indicated to Minister Nicholls that I don’t think it would be appropriate for Queensland to continue with their stated intention to undertake an evidence review in this area of care,” Butler said. “These issues should be nationally consistent, and in my view, should be driven by the preeminent authority.”
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Butler said much of the public commentary about trans and gender diverse treatment was damaging to the mental health of young people and their families, which is why he has turned to the NHMRC for evidence-based advice on the best possible treatment standards.
When asked if the review was prompted by the Trump administration’s move to end federal funding for gender-affirming care for children, Butler said providing children with the best possible care should be the paramount focus for Australian governments.
When announcing the Queensland review, Nicholls said there was “widely contested international evidence” around the use of puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria.
In March last year, the UK stopped the prescription of puberty blockers while the National Health Service undertook a review, and the country’s Labour government made the decision permanent in December.
No announcement has yet been made about who will be on the national inquiry.
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Mike Foley is the climate and energy correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
Michael Bachelard is a senior writer and former deputy editor and investigations editor of The Age. He has worked in Canberra, Melbourne and Jakarta, has written two books and won multiple awards for journalism, including the Gold Walkley.Connect via Twitter.
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