Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to an alarming report published in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday about a massive increase in the number of Australian adolescents being treated for gender dysphoria. The causes of this huge increase in children being treated for gender dysphoria need to be investigated urgently, and I will later today move to refer this matter to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee. According to the report, a freedom of information request has revealed there were 2,067 people aged under 18 enrolled in public adolescent gender clinics, which is almost 10 times the number in 2014. The report notes these are only figures for public clinics. It is likely that the total figure, including children being treated by GPs and private clinics, is much higher. The number of adolescents being prescribed puberty blockers in 2021 was 624, up from only five in 2014; while 204 adolescent were on cross-sex hormones, up from 27 in 2014.

These treatments have been conclusively shown to cause lifelong negative health impacts, such as reduced bone density, leading to an increased risk of osteoporosis and fractures, impaired fertility, impaired sexual function and libido, potentially negative impacts on brain development and possibly increased risks of developing hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes. Mental health experts in Australia and overseas are very concerned by these developments, by the influence of ideology amplified by social media and manifested in the so-called affirmation approach to treating children with gender dysphoria, and by the debilitating long-term psychosocial impacts of these treatments. Ultimately, we all want the best outcomes for young Australians.