Expert Committee selection is critical to the integrity of the NHMRC review of Australian gender medicine

MEDIA RELEASE – Genspect Australia 31st Jan 2025

Genspect Australia is pleased that the self-appointed ‘Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for Trans and Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents’ are being reviewed and replaced, but cautions that the integrity of any new guideline rests on the appropriate selection of review panel members.

Genspect Australia is a coalition of clinicians and parents promoting non-medicalised and evidence-based care for children and young people with gender-related distress.

The Health Minister Mark Butler announced the guideline review today, and mentioned a key role for the Australian Professional Association of Transgender Health (AusPATH) in its initiation. “This rings alarm bells given the nature of AusPATH as an activist-led organisation that promotes radical ‘gender-affirming’ treatment as the only allowable path,” said Genspect spokesperson Judith Hunter.

The existing ‘Standards’ document was written by AusPATH members at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and endorsed by the AusPATH board. In a published review of international guidelines commissioned by the NHS England Cass Review, the ‘Australian Standards’ was given a grade of only 19% for rigour of development which includes adherence to an evidence base, and the Minister today acknowledged that it was not NHMRC-approved.

The ‘Australian Standards’ document promotes immediate ‘affirmation’ of a gender-questioning child with a new name and pronouns, followed by puberty blockers if early in puberty, cross-sex hormones, and possible later surgery. This approach is now highly contested globally, with many countries taking a more neutral approach in recent years and prioritising psychological treatments.

“Irreversible sex-trait modification initiated when children are as young as 10 years old is an irresponsible and bizarre treatment for a condition that was unheard of 20 years ago”, said Ms Hunter. “We are witnessing an epidemic of transgender identification that occurs in clusters and peer groups and is undoubtedly driven by social contagion. To treat a transient identity in adolescence with irreversible and radical body modification defies the ‘do no harm’ principle in medicine. Review of these practices is way overdue.”

Genspect Australia is concerned about the timeline proposed for the review with interim conclusions expected on puberty blockers in mid-2026. “The UK has already looked at the evidence on puberty blockers and stopped prescription. Children are being harmed right now, with treatments that lead to sterility, loss of sexual function, and a myriad of long-term health problems from incontinence to risk of stroke. All states need to follow Queensland with a pause in new prescriptions,” said Ms Hunter.

The announcement of the review comes only three days after the Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls imposed a pause on new puberty blocker and hormone treatments in Queensland in response to alleged malpractice in the Cairns Sexual Health Service, and also outlined a review of the evidence for gender affirmative treatments of minors.

There is no dispute that gender-distressed young people and their families deserve the highest quality care, and Genspect Australia looks forward to engaging with the review process to ensure this outcome. “It is essential that the experiences of both detransitioners, who have been harmed by gender medicalisation and parents who advocate for a cautious ‘watchful-waiting’ approach are considered,” said Ms Hunter.

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