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Statement on the Crisafulli government's intention to extend the ban until 2031
Parents of Trans Kids Speak Out | December 2025
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We are heartbroken that the ban on gender affirming care has been extended to 2031. We know from the experience of families within our community how beneficial gender-affirming care is for trans kids.
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As this "pause" continues over the next five to six years, hundreds or potentially thousands of Queensland families will be forced into financial distress or the alternative, watch their kid's continued suffering - all because of the Crisafulli Government's decision.
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And yet, children who are not trans continue to receive the same medical treatment denied to trans kids. How is this not discrimination?
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We are disappointed and frustrated that the Vine Review was not released immediately. We will review the report as a matter of priority and will make a further statement in due course.
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We note, however, that in his press release Minister Nicholls said that all children with gender dysphoria will "continue to have access to.....mental health and wellbeing support." If our children had access to the medical care they needed, there would not be a need for increase mental health and well-being support. Who does he say is providing this support? The Queensland Children's Gender Service doesn't, as it does not have the resources to meet demand. The best the clinic can offer is a list of external service providers.
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Our kids deserve better.
The LNP’s ban on puberty blockers
Parents of Trans Kids Speak Out | November 2025
Queensland’s Health Minister Tim Nicholls reinstated the ban on puberty blockers hours after the original ban was found to be unlawful. Despite the imminent repercussions on trans youths’ well-being, Nicholls claimed he acted in the public interest. But for reasons only he could know, he was so afraid of expert consultation he risked breaking the law a second time.
To date, Nicholls has cited only one source for his concerns: the UK’s Cass Review. But as the New England Journal of Medicine noted, the Cass Review suffers from a “substandard level of scientific rigor”. The Medical Journal of Australia noted the Review’s “poor understanding of the therapeutic role of puberty suppression”.
Trans youth who seek puberty blockers have one motivation: to prevent the irreversible physical changes accompanying puberty. For trans men, this means breast growth, necessitating chest reconstruction surgery. For trans women, it means facial and body hair, a deeper voice, Adam’s apple, etc, all of which may require expensive surgeries or therapies in adulthood and cause intense stress on individuals and their families.
A US survey of over 60,000 trans and gender-diverse young people found “a very sharp and statistically significant rise in suicide attempt rates” after the enactment of anti-trans laws. Among 13-17 year olds, the rate of attempted suicides was 72% higher than it had been before the law‘s passage.
Those who oppose gender-affirming care for trans youth say it is “risky” and “experimental”. The real risk is in denying that treatment to young people. Even the Cass Review admitted that there is no evidence supporting psychotherapy as a treatment for gender dysphoria, yet now, for trans youth in the public system, psychotherapy is the only treatment available.
Tim Nicholls is afraid of consultation because the evidence is against him.
What's wrong with the Cass Review ?
Dr Ruth Pearce | October 15, 2025
The Cass Review has been extensively criticised by trans community organisations, medical practitioners, and scholars working in fields including transgender medicine, epidemiology, neuroscience, psychology, women’s studies, feminist theory, and gender studies.
They have highlighted problems with the Cass Review that include substandard and inconsistent use of evidence, non-evidenced claims, unethical recommendations, overt prejudice, pathologisation, and the intentional exclusion of service users and trans healthcare experts from the Review process.
Though hailed by some politicians and media outlets as a serious work, The Cass Review has been discredited in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Medical Journal of Australia; was the topic of a damning 40-page critique by gender-medicine specialists working with Yale University; and has been sharply criticised by peak medical bodies worldwide.
Puberty blockers: why politicians overriding doctors sets a dangerous precedent
The Conversation | 20 November 2025
The government’s ban on puberty blockers for gender-affirming care marks a troubling shift: politicians are now making decisions that should sit with clinicians working alongside young people and their families or whānau. Puberty blockers have been used in gender-affirming healthcare for decades.
Health minister reinstates ban on puberty blockers
ABC News | 29 October 2025
The Queensland health minister has reinstated a ban on puberty blockers, six hours after a Supreme Court judge overturned the January freeze. Tim Nicholls used his ministerial powers to ban public doctors from prescribing the medication to adolescents, effective immediately. The restriction will remain in effect until the government considers a review, due next month.
