Premier Jeremy Rockcliff needs to take urgent action on the findings of a study covered in The Australian today including on the front page
Doctor scrutiny on gender clinic reveals legal, safety fears.
The Tasmanian Gender Service has come under pressure from numerous groups in Tasmania in past years over its ‘affirmative only approach’, the model of care used by the TGS for children struggling with gender dysphoria.
The Australian article states the study concluded that gender clinics across Australia need to adopt a “neutral therapeutic stance” and that “a much more diverse range of treatment options and pathways as an alternative to medical gender transition was necessary”.
Since 2019, from across Australia hundreds of physicians, endocrinologists, paediatricians and psychiatrists have been calling on the federal Government and state Governments to conduct an independent inquiry into treatment guidelines at gender clinics across Australia.
Their calls have come on the back of international research and exposes of medical malpractice at gender clinics in numerouscountries.
Last year, the Tasmanian Children’s Commissioner Leanne McLean met with gender dysphoria expert from Sydney Dr Dianna Kenny in Hobart to discuss the same issues now covered by the Westmead study.
The Commissioner declined an urgent request from Women Speak Tasmania to establish her own inquiry into the guidelines used by the Tasmanian Gender Service in light of all the evidence presented to her.
With an alarmingly high percentage of children presenting at gender clinics being found to have comorbidities such as autism, depression or internalised homophobia, the affirmative only approach to care has been described as harmful to children.
Health and legal experts calls have fallen on deaf ears but with this latest study from Westmead clinicians, it can be hoped that this Inquiry will finally be established as a matter of urgency.
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