Labor, Greens Reject Inquiry Into the Use of Puberty Blockers on Children

The motion to investigate the use and impact of puberty blockers on children experiencing gender dysphoria has been rejected by the centre-left Labor government and the left-wing Greens.

This was the second time the government rejected the inquiry, first introduced by One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson in late 2022.

The move came amid a significant rise in the number of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria in Western countries, with more than 2,000 Australian children enrolled in public gender clinics in 2023, a 10-fold increase compared to 2014.

Meanwhile, more than 600 children received puberty blocker treatments for gender dysphoria in 2021, compared to only five cases in 2014.

The number of adolescents being treated with cross-sex hormone treatments also increased almost eight times in the same period.

Senator Hanson argued on March 20 that if it were any other condition, such huge increases would “warrant multiple inquiries into the causes.”

“Yet in Australia, any call for an inquiry similar to what has happened in the UK is blocked by extremist ideology and the hideous politics of identity and victimhood embodied by Labor, the Marxist Greens, and regressive Liberals.”

Australia Needs To Follow UK: Hanson

The One Nation leader brought the inquiry to the senate again after England’s public health system confirmed it would stop prescribing puberty blockers to children under the age of 18.

The UK’s National Health Service cited a lack of evidence to “support the safety or clinical effectiveness of [puberty blockers] to make the treatment routinely available at this time.”

“I believe it’s time Australia followed Britain’s example and took a more cautious and evidence-based approach to this issue,” Ms. Hanson told the senate on March 19.

“Any political party or senators that refuse to support this reasonable and fair inquiry are clearly too blinded by their ideological obsessions to be trusted with the safety, health, and wellbeing of our nation’s children.”

The motion was rejected with a vote of 25-30, with all Labor senators and two Independent senators, David Pocock, and Lidia Thorpe voting no, and the Coalition voting yes.

On March 20, Ms. Hanson called the motion’s defeat “shameful,” adding that, “it seems no amount of evidence will cause the Senate to see reason.”

The inquiry would examine the effectiveness of puberty blockers and data transparency from Australian children’s hospital and gender services, as well as the long-term impacts of puberty blockers on children.

This includes “brain development, bone mineral density, future fertility, and sexual function, as well as mental health outcomes.”

The inquiry would also compare Australia’s policy with policies in the UK, Netherlands, Norway, Finland, and explore the processes of Australian health services in initiating puberty blocker treatment.

Greens Senator Argues Gender Diversity Doesn’t Need To Be Treated

Greens Senator Janet Rice, who voted against the motion, previously argued that it would target “marginalised members of our community” and stoke “fear, hatred, and violence towards them.”

“So I say to all trans and gender-diverse people, as well as Jewish people and people of colour who are still reeling from the weekend: I’m sorry,” she said in March 2023.

“You don’t deserve what happened then, and you don’t deserve the ongoing attacks on your very identity that are being waged in this parliament.”

“Gender diversity does not need to be ‘remedied.’ Trans and gender-diverse people need to be loved and celebrated.”