Intersex protections debated

‘Being born with a variation in sex characteristics, sometimes referred to as "intersex", means your body does not fit typical definitions or understandings of male or female bodies. This can include physical traits, like reproductive organs; chromosomes; or hormones,’ explained Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas in her second reading speech.   

She said the Health Safeguards for People Born with Variations in Sex Characteristics Bill 2025 responds to the experiences of people born intersex. 

'For decades, around the world, infants and young children born with variations in sex characteristics have undergone medical procedures so that their body can appear more typically male or female,’ she said. 

‘These interventions, including surgical or hormonal treatments, were often not medically necessary, irreversible, and performed well before the person was able to consent. While the intention has often been benign, the consequences can be devastating and lifelong. They can include sterilisation, pain, sexual dysfunction, psychological trauma, and a deep sense of violation,’ she said. 

The Bill seeks to ensure people born with VSC receive safe, respectful, evidence‑based healthcare, to prevent non‑urgent, irreversible procedures on infants and young children who cannot consent, to strengthen informed consent, support families, and give clinicians clear, contemporary guidance and to affirm that VSC are a natural form of human bodily diversity, not a problem to be “fixed”.

“ 'While the intention has often been benign, the consequences can be devastating and lifelong. They can include sterilisation, pain, sexual dysfunction, psychological trauma, and a deep sense of violation,’ ”

Mary-Anne Thomas, Minister for Health

Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy said the opposition supported the Bill with amendments. 

‘The intent is to strengthen it and ensure that people who are born with variations in sex characteristics can access safe care in Victoria’s health system and that we can ensure that the dignity and respect that they deserve is continued through appropriate consent and appropriate treatment,’ she said. 

Member for Eltham Vicki Ward said that variations in sex characteristics represent around 1.7 per cent of the population, ‘which means it is about as common as being born with red hair’.   

‘Fundamentally this legislation is about dignity, about protecting the right to bodily autonomy, about protecting fertility and the human right to consent,’ she said. 

Dr Tim Read, Member for Brunswick said the Greens would vote in favour of the Bill. 

‘The Bill strikes an appropriate balance between sometimes competing principles of bodily integrity, children’s right to participate in decisions about them, medical necessity and independent oversight, and, importantly, it responds to the many medical harms endured by people born with variations in their sex characteristics around the world, including here in Victoria,’ he said. 

You can find the full debate in Hansard.

“ 'The Bill strikes an appropriate balance between sometimes competing principles of bodily integrity, children’s right to participate in decisions about them, medical necessity and independent oversight.' ”

Tim Read, Member for Brunswick

The Bill will now be further debated by the Legislative Council.