Last Wednesday, NSW Labor MLC the Hon. Greg Donnelly made a Private Members’ statement about detransitioners, and in particular, the legal action by Victorian woman Mel Jefferies against the doctors who performed her gender treatments, which she says caused her "significant harm".
He chastised the politicians, bureaucrats and health professionals who have “have manifestly failed to ensure the appropriate and proper care for individuals who may be or are gender dysphoric” and wished Ms Jefferies all the best for her case.
Earlier this year, Mr Donnelly was the only Labor MP to sign our open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling on him to pause medical gender interventions for children and young people pending an urgent, independent, national inquiry.
No such action has yet been taken by the Prime Minister or his government.
We applaud Mr Donnelly for his continued strong stance against harmful medical transitioning practices and have included the full text of his speech below:
Mr President,
On 14th May last year, I gave an Adjournment Speech on the subject of Detransitioners. In simple terms, a detransitioner is an individual who has undergone a medicalised sex-changed procedure and subsequently regrets their decision. In doing so, they take steps to return living in accordance with their natal sex.
The fact that the number of detransitioners is rapidly growing in NSW and around Australia, should be of no surprise to anyone. It was utterly predictable that as public health services like NSW Health, and all the others around Australia, slavishly adopted the affirmation treatment regime for children, adolescents and indeed adults for those who may be, or were gender dysphoric, there would be ruinous and tragic consequences for many, many individuals; individuals who were placed on the flawed medical conveyer belt starting with social transitioning, progressing to the administering of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone treatment, and completing the whole course of action with radical surgery that left them permanently sterilised and destined to spend the rest of their natural life on hormone treatment.
I draw Honourable Members attention to an article that appeared on page 10 in last weekend’s Saturday Age titled Despite her gender, ‘ricocheting’, Mel was allowed under a surgeon’s knife. The first paragraph of the article reads:
“A young woman [Mel Jefferies] who thought for years she was non-binary or a transgender man is suing two doctors and Monash Health for negligence, claiming gender treatment that included having both breasts surgically removed had caused her “significant injury”.”
In following-up the case I visited the Supreme Court of Victoria website and downloaded the published case documents. The case reference is S ECI 2025 02224. I draw Honourable Members specific attention to pages 20-27 that contain the particulars of the negligence claim. Time does not permit me to go through them in detail, but they are extensive. Regarding the first Defendant (there is a total of three), I note there are a total of 48 particulars listed.
The case has been filed by Slater and Gordon Lawyers. The matter is just getting underway, and one would expect it will take some time to complete. There is no doubt that there is significant Australia-wide interest in the case, not the least from Ministers for Health, Health Department Secretaries, Chief Medical Officers, Chief Psychiatrists, Psychiatrists, Specialist Clinicians, GPs, Psychologists, Counsellors and others who, in my opinion have manifestly failed to ensure the appropriate and proper care for individuals who may be or are gender dysphoric. I do hope that all federal, state and territory politicians read the details of Mel Jefferies' case and ask themselves, is this the best medical and health care we can provide for individuals in such need?
I wish Mel Jefferies all the best for her case. May she receive the just outcome that she deserves.
Women’s Forum Australia is an independent think tank that undertakes research, education and public policy advocacy on issues affecting women and girls, with a particular focus on addressing behaviours and practices that are harmful and abusive to them. We are a non-partisan, non-religious, tax-deductible charity. We do not receive any government funding and rely solely on donations to make an impact. Support our work today.
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