Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

But that's the crux of this, right?—that the language is put forward as reasonable and not inflammatory, but we understand what this is aimed at. We understand who this is aimed at. And we understand what the impacts of this will be.

I want to be very clear that health care should be between patients, their families and their doctors, and the treatment of trans and gender-diverse people, for the young person, is a matter for the young person, their families and their doctors. Children under 18 in Australia can only access transgender health care with the consent of both of their parents or through a court order. Clinical guidelines stipulate that children accessing gender affirmation treatment should be treated by a multidisciplinary team of expert clinicians, including mental health practitioners. This treatment occurs largely within hospitals under the jurisdiction of states and territories.

As government senators have outlined in response to previous attempts to refer this to inquiry, advice has been received from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians that said that a national inquiry would not increase the scientific evidence available regarding gender dysphoria but would further harm vulnerable patients and their families. We know this. We know that an inquiry of this kind would cause further harm to people who are already vulnerable.

The ABC released statistics today, and maybe the senators opposite and those on the crossbench haven't had a chance to see these statistics. They say that more than one in four trans people aged 16 to 85 have seriously thought about taking their own life at some point in their lifetime, and that's compared to one in six people who are not transgender. We are talking about a public debate about people's lives that should be confined to discussions with their health care.

This motion shows again that the Liberal Party are moving more towards right-wing populist policies rather than fact based policies that bring people together, increase wages or protect people at work. That's not what they're interested in. Peter Dutton and the LNP are all about this negativity, and they have zero plan for anything else. That's why they always put politics above helping other people.

I also say this to the senators on the crossbench who will consider this motion but not understand the context of what this motion means to other people outside of this place. This is not only the week of the Sydney Mardi Gras, a moment when the LGBTQI community celebrates but also commemorates the lives that have been lost and the laws that have been changed to decriminalise the lives that we live, but it is a week when the queer community, particularly in Sydney, is mourning the unnecessary and tragic loss of life of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies. To move this motion this week is deeply insulting. I fear these Liberal Party senators and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, know the context and moved this motion today anyway. I urge those senators on the crossbench to acknowledge this and to stand up against this unnecessary division. I invite those Liberal senators who share these views to ensure that this motion is not moved any further. At the end of the day, we want to protect young people, and that's not what this inquiry would do. It would actually cause harm, when harm is not needed.