Thursday, 19 June 2025

Gender services

Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) presented a petition bearing 3797 signatures:

The Petition of certain citizens of the State of Victoria draws to the attention of the Legislative Council that Victoria practices a condemned model of care to address childhood gender dysphoria with no reports of the model being abandoned. The affirmation model in Victoria is based on the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) affirmation model for addressing childhood gender dysphoria. The model was considered as one of the benchmarks of care by many but others questioned this model. To resolve this issue, an independent review of gender identity services for children and young people was commissioned in 2020 by NHS England and NHS Improvement and led by Dr Hilary Cass, a retired consultant paediatrician and former President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in the United Kingdom. The final report was published on 10 April 2024. The report has condemned the affirmation model, highlighting the lack of evidence to justify its use. The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Council call on the Government to halt gender affirmation practices in Victoria.