Queensland’s health minister is considering using his ministerial powers to reinstate a pause on gender-affirming care for children, after a court ruled the ban was unlawful and did not follow proper procedures.
In Brisbane’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Judge Peter Callaghan ruled in favour of the parent of a transgender teenager who challenged the legality of the government’s directive last week. The judge’s decision effectively overrules the government’s ban on gender-affirming care.
Counsel acting for the parent, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed there was no proper consultation before the January move by Queensland Health’s director-general Dr David Rosengren. They also claimed the ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy was enforced “at the direction or behest” of Health Minister Tim Nicholls.
Queensland’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy was unlawful, a court has ruled. Credit: Matt Dennien
Shortly after the ruling, Nicholls told parliament the government’s position on the matter remained unchanged, and said he would consider issuing his own ministerial directive banning new patients under the age of 18 from accessing gender-affirming care.
He said the judgment was based on “procedural reasons”, and had not criticised the merit of the directive, which bans new patients accessing the services until a review that is due to give its findings to government next month.
“As parents, as communities, as a state, we owe it to children to ensure care is grounded on solid evidence, and we act with caution,” Nicholls told parliament.
“And it was on those principles, at the forefront of its mind, that the government has … previously communicated that decision.”
The case brought against the government hinged on what consultation was conducted before the ban was enforced.
Under section 48 of the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011, the director-general must consult a service when developing an applicable health service directive.
Callaghan said the only evidence of lawfully required consultation on the directive consisted of a Microsoft Teams meeting that lasted 22 minutes.
An email sent on January 27 showed the director-general planned to issue a memo at 10.30am – half an hour after the consultation meeting – formally announcing the ban.
While the meeting was taking place, Nicholls held a press conference announcing the ban and a review into gender services throughout Queensland.
Callaghan said while there was “no one definition” of consultation that would apply to every case, under the act, there was “one indispensable requirement” that consultation would form part of the process of “developing” a directive, rather than something that occurred after the terms of a directive had already been developed.
“There are no doubt many ways in which ‘consultation’ might fit into such a process, but whatever they were, they had to involve meaningful opportunity for the services to contribute to the process by which the working parts of the directive came into existence,” Callaghan said.
“The 10am meeting, however, had every hallmark of an occasion convened for the respondent to announce that the directive was ‘what is going to be done’.”
Matilda Alexander, solicitor for LGBTI Legal Service, speaking after the court ruling. Credit: Courtney Kruk
LGBTI Legal Service solicitor Matilda Alexander said the ruling represented a “significant legal win” for many Queensland families affected by the government’s ban.
A statement prepared by the parent, read outside court, described the months following the ban as a “harrowing and traumatising ordeal”.
“I’m incredibly relieved that it is over, and that justice has been achieved for my child and other young people affected by this government ban,” the statement said.
“No teenager should ever have to go through something like this, just to get the healthcare that they need.”
Heather Corkhill, the legal director of Equality Australia, said they hoped public healthcare would commence for young people “as soon as possible”.
“In their rush to act, this government bypassed their own consultation processes and ignored the dire hidden cost,” Corkhill said.
“Queensland is the only state that has taken away care from trans young people, and that flies in the face of all medical expert evidence, and the state’s Human Rights Act.”
Greens MP Michael Berkman, whose question on notice brought the details of the consultation to light, said the LNP “must stop its program of political interference”.
“Governments of all stripes should take this as a warning: you are not above the law,” he said.
“Premier [David] Crisafulli’s cabinet overrode Queensland Health by directing it to ban gender-affirming healthcare for young people, after just 22 minutes of so-called ‘consultation’.
“Restricting trans healthcare was just a consolation prize for the ideological conservatives in the LNP who didn’t get their way on abortion.”
Opposition leader Steven Miles said ministers should be “law makers, not law breakers”, and asked whether LNP ministers would be “held accountable”.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
