Binary Australia: Calls for Australian transgender health policies to get back to reality
Michael Barnett OAM
Calls for Australian transgender health policies to get back to reality
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has been compromised by its association with the Aids Council of NSW (ACON).
Instead of relying on biological science, evidence-based medicine and best medical practices, it has become captured by gender ideology and an adherence to a points system run by ACON.
AHPRA developed an LGBT+ policy that places the fantasy of sex changes above reality. As a result, doctors like Jillian Spencer and Andrew Amos have faced serious repercussions. A male doctor has been employed in NSW as a “female”. Children are being put on experimental and extremely harmful medicalised pathways for gender distress, while no studies or data support these actions. Parents are being separated from their children, as documented in our book Devastated: how gender ideology is tearing Australian Families Apart.
The list goes on and on.
How can AHPRA safeguard medical practitioners or patients when they are beholden to an ideology that denies biological science and basic reality?
In correspondence obtained by The Australian, AHPRA boss Justin Untersteiner states that the regulator’s engagement with ACON and accreditation group Rainbow Health Australia guides “the way we regulate and fulfil our purpose of ensuring the preservation of public safety”.
Humans cannot change sex. Drugs and surgeries may mask obvious sex characteristics, but human sex is written on every single cell in the body that contains a nucleus.
The ABC recently cut ties with ACON and now AHPRA must do the same.
Rachel Wong from Women’s Forum Australia rightly stated that the association “has contributed to a chilling effect on legitimate clinical debate”.
“AHPRA must urgently cut ties with ACON if it is going to regain its independence and the public’s trust,” Ms Wong said.
“The ideological capture of our institutions is why gender ideology has been allowed to fester in this country at the expense of women, children and our broader culture. It must end now.”
A spokeswoman for Parents of Adolescents with Gender Distress said it was clear that AHPRA’s guidance from ACON had affected its ability to act impartially on the issue of gender-affirming care.
“Gender clinicians who publicly advocate for these controversial interventions face no restrictions, while practitioners who voice valid critique have been unduly penalised,” said the spokeswoman, who The Australian has chosen not to name to protect her child’s privacy.
“AHPRA owe it to the public, the families and the vulnerable young people being asked to provide ‘informed consent’, to encourage healthy public debate, not attempt to shut it down.”