Gender identity
Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (12:16): (1473) My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. This government identifies gender issues as affecting children’s mental health, including increased risks of anxiety, depression and suicide. My FOI to the Royal Children’s Hospital sought documents concerning the legality of affirming a minor’s gender identity and providing puberty blockers, oestrogen and testosterone to those minors. It obtained the gender service’s own internal training on Gillick competence: whether a child is considered mature enough to consent to their own treatment. The training states that even when a child is considered able to consent, if a parent disputes the child’s capacity, diagnosis or proposed treatment, application to the court is mandatory. It also warns that proceeding without parental consent or court approval can expose practitioners to criminal or civil liability claims. If the child has already been considered mature enough to consent for themselves, why does the parents’ consent still matter before medical gender treatment can proceed?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (12:17): I thank Mrs Deeming for her question, and I think that it probably straddles both the mental health and health portfolios. But I do want to make one thing very clear: we are, as a government, very committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of all Victorians, including those gender-diverse members of our community. We know that the mental health, self-harm and suicide rates of people in that community are significantly higher than those of the general population and that they are disproportionately impacted by mental health challenges and indeed suicide. It is not a statistic that we will ignore. It is an issue that we have to be very careful that we do not politicise. We will continue to take the expert clinical advice when it comes to the care that we provide to gender-diverse Victorians. I must say, the Royal Children’s Hospital are an exemplar of providing that care to young Victorians. In terms of the very specific question that the member asks, I am going to take that on notice and get some very careful advice back from my department, because it is important that these things are considered carefully. But I will reiterate that equality is not negotiable in Victoria, and we will continue to support those specialist services, particularly at the Royal Children’s Hospital, that continue to provide expert clinical care to young Victorians.
Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (12:19): Thank you for that answer. Minister, my previous FOIs to the Department of Education found a very different approach to mental health when a child wants to socially transition at school. Schools can decide that a child is mature enough to consent for themselves and allow gender affirmation at school without parental consent and knowing that parents would dissent. My FOIs found that there were no records kept either: no dedicated assessment form, no capacity checklist, no requirement for written reasons, no central register of these decisions and no accountability for whichever adult on school grounds decided that they were a mature minor to socially transition at school. This matters because research following children who have socially transitioned at an average age of about seven found that 86 per cent later commenced puberty blockers and 68 per cent later commenced cross-sex hormones. Minister, if parental consent matters before a child can medically transition, why does the government allow that same parental consent to be bypassed and completely transgressed when the child socially transitions at school, particularly when social transition is so strongly associated with later medical and criminal risks?
The PRESIDENT: At the risk of inserting myself, I am concerned that might be a question better directed to the Minister for Education, but I will call the minister.