By Stephanie Bastiaan
Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has committed a further $2.6 million per year in funding to Queensland Children's Gender Service (QCGS) to implement the recommendations of an 'independent' review released on Friday, bringing its tax-funded budget up to $5.2 million annually.
The purpose of the review was to ensure QCGS is offering the "safest, evidence-informed care which is in line with international best practice" after prominent child psychiatrist Dr Jillian Spencer raised concerns about the widespread use of medical interventions for gender dysphoria, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, due to the lack of evidence supporting their safety and effectiveness.
The review process and the Health Minister’s response are a damning indictment of just how ideologically captured our governments and health departments are by gender ideologues.
The antithesis of independent, the panel of ‘experts’ reportedly comprised of at least three active members of the Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) including its President, Professor Ashleigh Lin. Its scope was to measure the clinic’s performance and processes against “national and international” standards set out by AusPATH and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) without actually assessing the evidence underpinning medical treatments and whether they are safe and effective.
Talk about predetermining the outcome.
It should be a surprise to absolutely no one that the QCGS passed the review with flying colours. In fact, the key recommendations are centred around extensively expanding services throughout Queensland, including increasing medical staff and resources to boost intake, setting up a statewide network service and expanding the “lived experience workforce”. The panel also recommended that QCGS develop a media and communications strategy to “promote their support of the ongoing commitment and support for children and adolescents with diverse gender experiences to the public” and design and introduce a community education package about gender diversity.
Concerningly, the review confirmed that QCGS supports children as young as eight receiving medical interventions (described in the review as puberty blockers and 'gender affirming' hormones) and that the clinic's informed consent and assessment processes within the QCGS are “comprehensive, clear, and appropriate”.
Yes. QCGS believes eight-year-olds can consent to life-altering drugs to 'affirm’ their perceived gender identity.
These findings are at odds with a growing number of jurisdictions, including the UK, Europe and at least 23 states in America, who are shifting away from medical ‘gender affirmation’ treatments, as a result of mounting evidence that these treatments are both ineffective and harmful.
Just this week, UK Labour Health Minister Wes Streeting released a statement on X defending his move to permanently ban puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children with gender dysphoria.
"Children's healthcare must always be led by evidence,” he wrote. “[The] Cass Review found there is not enough evidence about the long-term impact of puberty blockers for gender incongruence to know whether they are safe or not, nor which children might benefit from them.”
There is a broad acknowledgement in the review of the risks associated with the use of medical 'affirmation' treatments for young people with gender dysphoria. When discussing consent, the panel emphasise doctors must inform patients about the impact medical interventions can have on their mental health and physical harms to bone growth, fertility and sexual function. However, the panel then goes on to dismiss the Cass Review findings as irrelevant to Australia claiming they are unique to the NHS's binary approach to care. Instead, it applauds QCGS's comprehensive assessment and informed decision approach, as well as its holistic approach and broad range of pathways as in line with Cass Review recommendations.
Ludicrous.
It is utterly absurd that WPATH continues to influence Australia's approach to managing gender dysphoria, particularly in light of the scandalous revelations of medical malpractice and coverup exposed in the leaked WPATH files. Given what we now know about WPATH and the lack of evidence underpinning their model of care, any clinic operating to their standards should be investigated.
An urgent independent inquiry is long overdue and ‘gender affirming’ interventions like puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones must be halted until such a review is complete. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Health Minister Mark Butler must stop hiding behind the talking points of activist organisations like ACON that claim Australia is different from the rest of the world.
The fact that children can be prescribed life-altering drugs with links to cancer and cardiovascular disease, amongst other things, shows we are well behind.
The inaction of our Federal political leaders is egregious, particularly considering the growing number of detransitioners speaking out about their experience of being failed by a healthcare system brainwashed by gender ideology.
Australia's healthcare system is engulfed in a medical catastrophe. The Queensland Health Minister's decision to double the funding of a gender clinic prescribing harmful drugs to children as young as eight demonstrates that the problem leads to the heart of the Government.
The Queensland election is in three months’ time. In line with the Cass Review which the QCGS review dismissed, the Queensland Liberal-National Party membership recently passed a motion to ban puberty blockers for minors. If Labor continues to keep its head in the sand, it may be that the only hope for vulnerable gender-confused children in Queensland is a change of government.
Stephanie Bastiaan is Head of Advocacy at Women's Forum Australia.
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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