Wednesday, 15 May 2024

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:20): Yesterday I was proud, in fact very proud, to table petition 512, which called for an urgent, impartial, transparent, ethical, independent inquiry into gender identity services for children and adolescents and to consult with medical professionals and young people and their families who have lived experiences of the current end-to-end treatment process. 1437 Victorians supported this campaign. They stand with clinicians around the world who have defended the rights of children and minors and rejected the pressure from so-called progressive activists to base clinical practice on ideology, not sound medical science, with disastrous consequences for child welfare.

Since the petition launched in October 2023, the UK’s Cass review has vindicated this position. This review conducted by former president of the royal college of paediatrics Dr Hilary Cass recommends a shift away from medical intervention for trans-identifying children, calling it an area of remarkably weak evidence, to a model that considers possible mental health issues and prioritises therapy. It stated that:

For most young people, a medical pathway will not be the best way to manage their gender-related distress.

This stands in stark contrast to the move from the Royal Children’s Hospital to endorse and expand the use of gender affirmative treatment, meaning strong hormonal drugs can be prescribed to children and elective surgery may be performed on minors. The hospital has apparently reaffirmed its commitment to a narrowly focused practice, eschewing the multidisciplinary approach now increasingly advocated worldwide.

The response from some in government to the Cass review in Australia has not inspired confidence so far. They seem still to take the word of clinics that there is nothing to see here – this despite the massive increase in treatments for gender dysphoria, which must surely ring alarm bells. It is time for a neutral root-and-branch review. How can anyone oppose this with the stakes so high and with the credible evidence of a potential problem? It is shameful for those in authority to fail to even investigate the matter further – shameful.

I would like to commend the Women’s Action Group, a brave pro-women movement encouraging women to speak freely about gender ideology and its impacts, and I commend them because they bravely stand up when others abuse them, attack them and pillory them. They are doing a wonderful job on behalf of women and children in this state. I greatly congratulate the Women’s Action Group, who are in my electorate. I am very proud to have sponsored their petition, and I look forward to the Minister for Health’s response to our request for an inquiry into gender identity services. I ask her – and I ask everyone in this place – to ignore the other political pressure that emerges everywhere, to live up to the responsibility of her office and to take a brave decision in the best interests of Victoria’s children. These are children we are talking about here, children and minors who are being so badly treated by this affirmative model of care – supposedly care – for children with, supposedly, gender dysphoria. All other issues affecting their health need to be investigated properly, and they are not, because of the implications of the affirmative model that is in law in this state. I commend the petition. I commend the petitioners, and I thank them for bravely standing up for the future of children especially and minors in this state.