Health Minister Mark Butler announces fresh review of trans healthcare, puberty blockers

The federal government has announced a fresh and independent review into healthcare for trans and gender diverse Australians, just days after Queensland announced it would pause the delivery of puberty blockers to children pending a review into pediatric gender services.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the review would develop new national guidelines for the treatment of trans and gender diverse children and adolescents in Australia and be “driven by evidence” and informed by “public consultation and international work”.

“Governments also have a clear responsibility to ensure Australians are receiving the best medical advice and care available,” he said in a statement on Friday.

“That responsibility is especially important when it comes to the care of highly vulnerable children and adolescents.

“Two weeks ago, I sought advice from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Therapeutic Goods Administration on the current provision of care for trans and gender diverse Australian children and adolescents.

“After considering that advice, I have asked the NHMRC to undertake a comprehensive review of the Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for trans and gender diverse children and adolescents in Australia and to develop new national guidelines.

“The provision of public gender services to young people in Australia is exclusively led by states and territories who are responsible for the relevant services and employ the relevant clinicians.

“But the NHMRC is the nation’s leading expert body in health and medical research and has a statutory responsibility for developing and supporting high quality guidelines for clinical practice.

“It is imperative there is community confidence that Australian children, adolescents and their families are receiving the most appropriate care.

“The guidelines will be developed in accordance with the NHMRC’s Standards for Guidelines and the international GRADE approach.

“The NHMRC will develop the guidelines with an expert committee that includes lived experience and will be informed by public consultation, and international work.”

Mr Butler added that interim advice on the use of puberty blockers would be completed in the middle of 2026.

The statement comes just three days after Queensland announced it would pause the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for children with gender dysphoria pending a fresh review into the controversial treatment pathways.

Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the move had been sparked by “clinical governance issues” in the Cairns health service.

“There is contested evidence surrounding the benefits of stage 1 (puberty blockers) and stage 2 hormone therapy for children and adolescents with gender dysphoria emerging from studies throughout the world,” Mr Nicholls said on Tuesday.

“France, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden have all tightened regulations around prescribing hormone therapy to children and adolescents.

“More recently, the United Kingdom has changed legislation to restrict the prescription and supply of puberty blockers to children.

“The Queensland government has already announced on January 4, 2025 that it does not support expansion of the Queensland Children’s Gender Service and it has paused further delivery of the evaluation recommendations, pending further consideration by government.

“Queensland has not yet undertaken its own review of the evidence for stage 1 and stage 2 hormone therapy.

“Following the directive to the Director-General of Queensland Health regarding the operation of the Cairns Sexual Health Service, I have also directed the Director-General to commission an independently led broad review of the evidence for stage 1 and stage 2 hormone therapies for children in Queensland.

“The lead reviewer will be independent of the department and the terms of reference for the review will be settled in consultation with them.

As of June 2024, 547 children and adolescents were actively receiving care at the QCGS.

“There is a need to maintain confidence in public health services, particularly those delivered by Queensland Health for children,” Mr Nicholls said.

RACGP immediate past chair of specific interests transgender and gender-diverse healthcare Michelle Dutton has expressed alarm about Mr Nicholls’ decision.

“This decision is being framed as being about protecting young people, but this kind of blatantly political decision, and the media coverage that results, significantly increases hostility towards trans people in the community,” she said.

“This will be a very hard time for GPs who look after trans young people in Queensland.

“Young people and their families will be experiencing all kinds of emotions – fear, despair, anger, helplessness.”

The reviews also coincide with a petition from Women’s Forum Australia, an advocacy group that is critical of transgender beliefs, calling on the federal government to launch a public inquiry into youth gender medicine in Australia and pause all medical gender transitions for children and young people until the end of the inquiry.

“Recent developments globally have exposed serious concerns about the ‘gender-affirming’ approach to treating gender-confused youth and there is now a bipartisan consensus in many countries that major changes to practice in this area are needed,” the petition states.

“Medical interventions including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries can cause irreversible harm, including physiological damage, issues concerning brain development and social and relational difficulties.

“While lifelong impacts are yet to be fully understood, regret is real, and a growing number of detransitioners believe their gender distress masked other comorbidities, including autism, untreated sexual trauma and discomfort with their sexuality.

“This is a potential public health disaster of generational significance demanding an independent public inquiry.”