April 24, 2025 • 17 mins
In January, Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the trans community by banning some medical care for minors.
The move has had a chilling effect across the United States, as doctors withdraw their services for fear of being prosecuted and parents stop accessing medication for their children.
But many are fighting back. In one red state, we spoke with a doctor driving across state lines, at great personal risk, to give patients the care she says is needed to save their lives.
Now, trans healthcare is also under attack in Australia – with the Queensland government announcing a ban on state-funded gender-affirming care for minors on the same day of Trump’s directive.
Today, 7am’s senior producer Cheyne Anderson, on the ordinary people pushing back against Trump’s war on trans people, and how Queensland became the testing ground for bans in Australia.
Warning: this episode discusses suicide.
If you need support, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14. You can also call QLife on 1800 184 527. Support is also available at: Switchboard, Queerspace, Transcend Australia, Transgender Victoria and Minus18.
If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.
Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram
Guest: 7am’s senior producer Cheyne Anderson
Photo: AAP / Dean Lewis
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And what kind of questions are your patients asking you
at the moment. What are you hearing from.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Them, whether I'm going to have to close the clinic,
if I'm going to be moving away, if I'm still
going to be their doctor.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
This is a doctor practicing in the United States speaking
to our producer Shane Anderson. We can't tell you the
doctor's name, but for three months now her work has
been under attack. She provides medical care to trains and
gender diverse young people, and she says since Trump's executive
orders came in January, providing that care has become much harder,
(00:34):
and she's watched as her patients have suffered as a result.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
In fact, a lot of my trans kids have after
tucks because the learning environment has become so hostile. In
our state books supporting LGBT lifestyles with LGBT characters, I've
been taken out of the libraries. Teachers are not allowed
to answer questions about these things anymore. So it can
(01:00):
be really scary to be a kid in circumstances of
the US.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
For Schwartz Media, I'm Daniel James. This is seven AM today,
seven AM. Senior producer Shane Anderson on the ordinary people
pushing back against Trump's warren trans people and how Queensland
became the testing ground for bands. Here it's Friday, April
(01:33):
twenty five, and just a warning, this episode discusses suicide. Shane,
you are able to speak with a doctor who provides
healthcare to trans children and teenagers. We're going to use
a pseudonym to protect her identity because her work is
under attack right now. But tell me about her and
what her work involves.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So I got into this story because I was really
interested at looking at executive orders three months on now
that the dust has settled from that initial blitzkrieg of
orders back in late January, so I got talking to
this doctor. Let's call her Sophie for ease of convenience.
Sophie told me that she lives and mostly works in
(02:16):
a red state in the Midwest. She's married with a kid,
and she initially trained to be an obgyn, but expanded
her practice when her son was little and he started
wearing dresses to school, which is something that continued through
until the second grade.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And I found that there are no local resources for provents,
so I started learning about it. Medical transition and treatments
for young kids. Realized that estrogen and testosterone are things
that I prescribed every single day, and it was very
possible for me to be able to make an impact
(02:53):
on the community and provide services.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And so yeah, that's when she started getting into gender
affirming care. That was seven or eight years ago, and
she's been doing that ever since. But even before the
executive orders came in, she says, it was difficult for
her to do her job. She would have to travel
over the state line to a blue state to provide
care for her younger patients. But now since January, even
(03:17):
blue states are feeling the effect of Trump's bands, and
she said she's incredibly alarmed.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Understandably, man, Can you tell me a little bit more
about what exactly the executive orders are and how they
affect her work.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, So the main one was signed on January twenty eight,
his title Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation. I mean,
as you can hear in the title, it's a motive.
It's intentionally inflammatory and a gross mischaracterization of what gender
affirming care actually provides.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
The order states that the US will not fund, sponsor promote, assist,
or support the so called transition of a child from
one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all
laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life altering procedures.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So it's actually been challenged already in the courts, but
this order from January twenty eighth had enormous ripple effects
on her ability to treat children.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
So how is that planning it so far?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So the thing that Sophie explained to me is that
the wording of the order leaves the door open for
criminal charges for anyone providing gender affirming care promises to
quote rigorously enforce all laws, even though it's not really
specific what those laws are, and so it's generated this
atmosphere of fear and paranoia around potentially what could come next.
(04:38):
So the federally funded clinic that she works for has
just gone into caretaker mode. They're not taking on any
new patients, Sophie said. Clinics are shutting down, pausing care.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Many people's psychiatrists, many transkind psychiatrists, dropped them as patients
or stopped documenting gender tsporia completely as part of their
care because they weren't afraid that they would be suoned
for aiding and abetting transition care for any particular patient,
and she.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Said that this extends to parents as well, being too
scared to go to the pharmacy and pick up medication
for their children. And at the end of the day,
she said, the impact, particularly you know, on children and
families that don't have the means to work around all
of these restrictions, it's been really significant.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It sounds really scary for these families, for the people
who are trying to work around these limitations. What does
that look like. Is it's still possible to get gender
affirming care.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It is still possible. I specifically asked her what she
is telling young people and their patients about how her
ability to give them care is being impacted.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I tell them that they should focus on being kids
and let me worry about the legal stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But for adults she has changed tack a little bit.
For example, if someone is considering gender reaffirming surgery, she's
advising some of her patients that maybe they should hold
off on making a decision about these surgeries just in
case they lose access to those hormones over the next
couple of years. Another thing that I had heard a
lot about was report to people's stockpiling medication. So I
(06:11):
asked about whether or not she was giving people advice
around that, and she told me that actually, the stockpiling
of medication is probably one of her biggest concerns for
the safety of her patients.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
These medications aren't safe to use without labs and without
physician supervision, So trans mails can get blood clots in
their legs, they can have a stroke if there aren't
too much testosterone.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
She said she's even seen patients this year where she's
gotten the blood work back and found that their testosterone
levels are putting them at risk of further serious health impacts.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Now, if you were to ask me, what's the risk
of not being able to access testosterone at all, for example,
versus you know, being able to access it and having
this small risk of having a stroke because you're taking
too much, that's a really, really sad question that I have
to answer.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So Sophie's ultimately trying to keep doing her job even
though it's obviously risky to do that. Trump's executive orders
threaten criminal charges for doctors. So what did she say
to you about how she feels about taking on that
kind of legal risk.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
It's a huge risk and you know, she's going into
it with open eyes. Her clinics have engaged lawyers. She
told me. The advice that they've gotten is that there's
really no way to know what the consequences of these
executive orders are until you're actually sued.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
My goal is to continue to provide the care as
best I can. My goal is not to violate laws.
I am prepared to be sued in my home state
and have contingency plans if I lose my license or
if I'm incarcerated. We hope that it doesn't come to that.
We're actually looking at moving to Australia things get really bad,
(08:03):
but it's difficult because you work in the US. You
end up spending a lot of money to become a doctor,
and so the thought of having to start over is intimidating.
But these kinds of things make me incredibly angry, and
so if I don't do something, then I don't nuts inside.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And she stressed to me that really these decisions go
beyond the legal considerations for herself as well. Right like
when she thinks about what might happen to her patients,
especially her younger patients, if medical care isn't available, she
says it's ultimately a matter of life or death. And
can you just spell out and really explain for me
(08:45):
what happens to the young people that you can't treat.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
If they have.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
A sense of hope in their lives that things will
get better, things can get better, and a lot of
them end up finding a lie these days, then sometimes
they can muddle through, but many of them end up
attempting suicide and their lives follow quote and they die.
(09:16):
So we lose people all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
After the break the Queensland kids facing healthcare.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
Bands Hi Ruby Jones here, seven am tells stories that
need to be told. Our journalism is founded on trust
and independence and now we're increasing our coverage Every Saturday
until the election, will bring you an extra episode to
(09:45):
break down the biggest political moments of the week. If
you enjoy seven Am, the best way you can support
us is by making a contribution at seven am podcast
dot com dot au, forward slash support. Thanks for listening
and supporting our work.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Shane Trump's executive orders are having a chilling effect on
trans rights in the United States. We're also now seeing
setbacks in other Western countries too. But what is the
situation in Australia.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Basically the same day as Trump's directive. Back in January
twenty eighth, Queensland state government put an immediate holt on
all people under the age of eighteen receiving puberty blockers
and hormone therapies in the public system.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
So when the band came in, it was a real shock.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I spoke to doctor eloui's Brook about this. She's the
CEO of OSPATH, which is a professional association for trans health.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
We've been worried for some time that there was going
to be an opportunity for some state governments and territories
to remove general fimincare. General fimin care is quite literally
the safest and best way to support young people to
get the best outcomes. So when that kind of gets
closed down, everyone's shocked, everyone's horrified.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
We know that at the time the band was put in,
there were four hundred and ninety one young people on
the weightlist for the Queensland Gender Service and they really
have two options now. They can go into the private system,
which can be prohibitively expensive. We're talking you know, multidisciplinary
care with psychiatrists and endocrinologists and medication alone, which can
(11:21):
be worth thousands of dollars every couple months, or they
can just not get care, which comes with a big
mental health risk. And so this had a pretty devastating impact,
especially on families who were, you know, just weeks or
months away from starting puberty blockers. And Eloise actually shared
(11:42):
with me a testimony from one of these families.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Our heart broke for our little person who is due
to start blockers in the first week of March.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
This is a family who'd already sat on the waitlists
and at the very last moment had had support disappear
in front of their eyes. And Eloise described their distress
at not being able to afford private health care and
some of the options the mother was even considering.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
All I could do was cry and have panic attacks
about what this could mean for them. I thought at
one stage that if I wasn't alive, my husband could
use my super to pay for it.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
But the thing that really separates the situation in Australia
from the situation and the States is how the federal
government is responding. Mark Butler, the Health Minister, he immediately
called on Queensland to pause the ban and he commissioned
the National Health and Medical Research Center to do a formal, independent,
(12:42):
scientifically backed review of the use of puberty blockers for children,
and everyone I spoke to had a lot of hope
that this review would follow what the science says that
these medications are safe and vital for good mental health
outcomes for young people. But this review is going to
take a long time. I think twenty twenty six is
when we'll expect to hear back from that.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And in the meantime, how are people in Queensland trying
to push back.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Well, there is one legal challenge that's just taken its
first steps. There is a mother who's put in an
application to the Supreme Court trying to get more information
from the Queensland Health Director General about the decision making
that went into this snap ban. Another initiative underway is
called Project four nine one, which was launched by doctor
(13:30):
Elouise Brook from Ospath and they came up with this
project which raises funds to bequeath to those families to
get private treatment. To this date, they've raised over one
hundred grand and they've only just launched a couple of
weeks ago. On the thirty first of March Transgender Day
of Visibility and so far they've helped support two families.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I mean, that is amazing, but it's also not something
that will be able to help the hundreds of families
that may actually need support as well. So what does
it say to you, Shane, that we're in a situation
where a state government is making a decision like this
and what is the likely impact for the future gender
affirming care in Australia.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I think it shows that people are learning from what's
happening in the States and speaking to everyone in the
process of making the story. I got the sense that
the lesson is that it's kind of everyone's responsibility not
to let the transgender diverse community become this political football
in Australia and not to let, you know, this ideologically
(14:27):
driven set of politics of the day kind of stand
in the way of quite a significant body of medical
research showing the safety of pubity blockers and hormone therapy.
So and the backlash to what's happening in Queensland, especially
at the federal government level, you know, does make some
people cautiously optimistic that maybe there isn't that appetite for
that kind of politics. More broadly in Australia, the same way,
(14:51):
and to the same extent that it's happening in the
US and the UK and the community support the groups
like Project four nine to one have seen. I think
our testament to that as well, and so while there
was a lot of cautious optimism, there is also a
warning to not get complacent.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
So really want people to keep focusing on how we
support our young people. I am looking forward to that
point when Project four nine one no longer is necessary,
but I'm not sure when that might be.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Shane, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Thanks for having me on, Daniel.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
If this episode has raised issues for you, or if
you're concerned about someone you know, you can call Lifeline
on thirteen eleven fourteen. You can also call q Life
on one eight hundred one, eight four five two seven.
Support is also available at Switchboard, Queer Space, Transcend Australia,
Transgender Victoria and Minus eighteen. Also in the news, most
(15:57):
doctors say they won't move to full bonk billing, despite
promises by both major parties. ABCWS surveyed more than eight
hundred gps and combine their findings with data from the
Royal College of General Practitioners. Ninety percent of doctors told
the ABC they wouldn't move to full bulk billing, with
many saying the eight point five billion dollar scheme pledged
by Labor and match dollar for dollar by the Coalition
(16:19):
shows a lack of understanding for how general practice works.
They warned the policy could incentivize shorter consults and compromise care,
and the Prime Minister says there's no place for violence.
After a series of incidents at pre polling booths this week, Yesterday,
a teenager in Anthony Alberizi's electric was charged over an
alleged assault of a man at a polling booth. The
(16:41):
man was wearing a Maga hat. Prominence to Alberzi stressed
the need for respect of polling booths and wished the
man a swift recovery. I'm Daniel James. This is seven
am and we'll be back tomorrow with the full rap
of all the biggest political moments of the week. See
it then
Speaker 6 (17:01):
You w
And what kind of questions are your patients asking you
at the moment. What are you hearing from.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Them, whether I'm going to have to close the clinic,
if I'm going to be moving away, if I'm still
going to be their doctor.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
This is a doctor practicing in the United States speaking
to our producer Shane Anderson. We can't tell you the
doctor's name, but for three months now her work has
been under attack. She provides medical care to trains and
gender diverse young people, and she says since Trump's executive
orders came in January, providing that care has become much harder,
(00:34):
and she's watched as her patients have suffered as a result.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
In fact, a lot of my trans kids have after
tucks because the learning environment has become so hostile. In
our state books supporting LGBT lifestyles with LGBT characters, I've
been taken out of the libraries. Teachers are not allowed
to answer questions about these things anymore. So it can
(01:00):
be really scary to be a kid in circumstances of
the US.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Right now.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
For Schwartz Media, I'm Daniel James. This is seven AM today,
seven AM. Senior producer Shane Anderson on the ordinary people
pushing back against Trump's warren trans people and how Queensland
became the testing ground for bands. Here it's Friday, April
(01:33):
twenty five, and just a warning, this episode discusses suicide. Shane,
you are able to speak with a doctor who provides
healthcare to trans children and teenagers. We're going to use
a pseudonym to protect her identity because her work is
under attack right now. But tell me about her and
what her work involves.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So I got into this story because I was really
interested at looking at executive orders three months on now
that the dust has settled from that initial blitzkrieg of
orders back in late January, so I got talking to
this doctor. Let's call her Sophie for ease of convenience.
Sophie told me that she lives and mostly works in
(02:16):
a red state in the Midwest. She's married with a kid,
and she initially trained to be an obgyn, but expanded
her practice when her son was little and he started
wearing dresses to school, which is something that continued through
until the second grade.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And I found that there are no local resources for provents,
so I started learning about it. Medical transition and treatments
for young kids. Realized that estrogen and testosterone are things
that I prescribed every single day, and it was very
possible for me to be able to make an impact
(02:53):
on the community and provide services.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And so yeah, that's when she started getting into gender
affirming care. That was seven or eight years ago, and
she's been doing that ever since. But even before the
executive orders came in, she says, it was difficult for
her to do her job. She would have to travel
over the state line to a blue state to provide
care for her younger patients. But now since January, even
(03:17):
blue states are feeling the effect of Trump's bands, and
she said she's incredibly alarmed.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Understandably, man, Can you tell me a little bit more
about what exactly the executive orders are and how they
affect her work.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, So the main one was signed on January twenty eight,
his title Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation. I mean,
as you can hear in the title, it's a motive.
It's intentionally inflammatory and a gross mischaracterization of what gender
affirming care actually provides.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
The order states that the US will not fund, sponsor promote, assist,
or support the so called transition of a child from
one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all
laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life altering procedures.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So it's actually been challenged already in the courts, but
this order from January twenty eighth had enormous ripple effects
on her ability to treat children.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
So how is that planning it so far?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So the thing that Sophie explained to me is that
the wording of the order leaves the door open for
criminal charges for anyone providing gender affirming care promises to
quote rigorously enforce all laws, even though it's not really
specific what those laws are, and so it's generated this
atmosphere of fear and paranoia around potentially what could come next.
(04:38):
So the federally funded clinic that she works for has
just gone into caretaker mode. They're not taking on any
new patients, Sophie said. Clinics are shutting down, pausing care.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Many people's psychiatrists, many transkind psychiatrists, dropped them as patients
or stopped documenting gender tsporia completely as part of their
care because they weren't afraid that they would be suoned
for aiding and abetting transition care for any particular patient,
and she.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Said that this extends to parents as well, being too
scared to go to the pharmacy and pick up medication
for their children. And at the end of the day,
she said, the impact, particularly you know, on children and
families that don't have the means to work around all
of these restrictions, it's been really significant.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It sounds really scary for these families, for the people
who are trying to work around these limitations. What does
that look like. Is it's still possible to get gender
affirming care.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It is still possible. I specifically asked her what she
is telling young people and their patients about how her
ability to give them care is being impacted.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I tell them that they should focus on being kids
and let me worry about the legal stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But for adults she has changed tack a little bit.
For example, if someone is considering gender reaffirming surgery, she's
advising some of her patients that maybe they should hold
off on making a decision about these surgeries just in
case they lose access to those hormones over the next
couple of years. Another thing that I had heard a
lot about was report to people's stockpiling medication. So I
(06:11):
asked about whether or not she was giving people advice
around that, and she told me that actually, the stockpiling
of medication is probably one of her biggest concerns for
the safety of her patients.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
These medications aren't safe to use without labs and without
physician supervision, So trans mails can get blood clots in
their legs, they can have a stroke if there aren't
too much testosterone.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
She said she's even seen patients this year where she's
gotten the blood work back and found that their testosterone
levels are putting them at risk of further serious health impacts.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Now, if you were to ask me, what's the risk
of not being able to access testosterone at all, for example,
versus you know, being able to access it and having
this small risk of having a stroke because you're taking
too much, that's a really, really sad question that I have
to answer.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
So Sophie's ultimately trying to keep doing her job even
though it's obviously risky to do that. Trump's executive orders
threaten criminal charges for doctors. So what did she say
to you about how she feels about taking on that
kind of legal risk.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
It's a huge risk and you know, she's going into
it with open eyes. Her clinics have engaged lawyers. She
told me. The advice that they've gotten is that there's
really no way to know what the consequences of these
executive orders are until you're actually sued.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
My goal is to continue to provide the care as
best I can. My goal is not to violate laws.
I am prepared to be sued in my home state
and have contingency plans if I lose my license or
if I'm incarcerated. We hope that it doesn't come to that.
We're actually looking at moving to Australia things get really bad,
(08:03):
but it's difficult because you work in the US. You
end up spending a lot of money to become a doctor,
and so the thought of having to start over is intimidating.
But these kinds of things make me incredibly angry, and
so if I don't do something, then I don't nuts inside.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And she stressed to me that really these decisions go
beyond the legal considerations for herself as well. Right like
when she thinks about what might happen to her patients,
especially her younger patients, if medical care isn't available, she
says it's ultimately a matter of life or death. And
can you just spell out and really explain for me
(08:45):
what happens to the young people that you can't treat.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
If they have.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
A sense of hope in their lives that things will
get better, things can get better, and a lot of
them end up finding a lie these days, then sometimes
they can muddle through, but many of them end up
attempting suicide and their lives follow quote and they die.
(09:16):
So we lose people all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
After the break the Queensland kids facing healthcare.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
Bands Hi Ruby Jones here, seven am tells stories that
need to be told. Our journalism is founded on trust
and independence and now we're increasing our coverage Every Saturday
until the election, will bring you an extra episode to
(09:45):
break down the biggest political moments of the week. If
you enjoy seven Am, the best way you can support
us is by making a contribution at seven am podcast
dot com dot au, forward slash support. Thanks for listening
and supporting our work.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Shane Trump's executive orders are having a chilling effect on
trans rights in the United States. We're also now seeing
setbacks in other Western countries too. But what is the
situation in Australia.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Basically the same day as Trump's directive. Back in January
twenty eighth, Queensland state government put an immediate holt on
all people under the age of eighteen receiving puberty blockers
and hormone therapies in the public system.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
So when the band came in, it was a real shock.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I spoke to doctor eloui's Brook about this. She's the
CEO of OSPATH, which is a professional association for trans health.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
We've been worried for some time that there was going
to be an opportunity for some state governments and territories
to remove general fimincare. General fimin care is quite literally
the safest and best way to support young people to
get the best outcomes. So when that kind of gets
closed down, everyone's shocked, everyone's horrified.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
We know that at the time the band was put in,
there were four hundred and ninety one young people on
the weightlist for the Queensland Gender Service and they really
have two options now. They can go into the private system,
which can be prohibitively expensive. We're talking you know, multidisciplinary
care with psychiatrists and endocrinologists and medication alone, which can
(11:21):
be worth thousands of dollars every couple months, or they
can just not get care, which comes with a big
mental health risk. And so this had a pretty devastating impact,
especially on families who were, you know, just weeks or
months away from starting puberty blockers. And Eloise actually shared
(11:42):
with me a testimony from one of these families.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Our heart broke for our little person who is due
to start blockers in the first week of March.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
This is a family who'd already sat on the waitlists
and at the very last moment had had support disappear
in front of their eyes. And Eloise described their distress
at not being able to afford private health care and
some of the options the mother was even considering.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
All I could do was cry and have panic attacks
about what this could mean for them. I thought at
one stage that if I wasn't alive, my husband could
use my super to pay for it.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
But the thing that really separates the situation in Australia
from the situation and the States is how the federal
government is responding. Mark Butler, the Health Minister, he immediately
called on Queensland to pause the ban and he commissioned
the National Health and Medical Research Center to do a formal, independent,
(12:42):
scientifically backed review of the use of puberty blockers for children,
and everyone I spoke to had a lot of hope
that this review would follow what the science says that
these medications are safe and vital for good mental health
outcomes for young people. But this review is going to
take a long time. I think twenty twenty six is
when we'll expect to hear back from that.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And in the meantime, how are people in Queensland trying
to push back.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Well, there is one legal challenge that's just taken its
first steps. There is a mother who's put in an
application to the Supreme Court trying to get more information
from the Queensland Health Director General about the decision making
that went into this snap ban. Another initiative underway is
called Project four nine one, which was launched by doctor
(13:30):
Elouise Brook from Ospath and they came up with this
project which raises funds to bequeath to those families to
get private treatment. To this date, they've raised over one
hundred grand and they've only just launched a couple of
weeks ago. On the thirty first of March Transgender Day
of Visibility and so far they've helped support two families.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I mean, that is amazing, but it's also not something
that will be able to help the hundreds of families
that may actually need support as well. So what does
it say to you, Shane, that we're in a situation
where a state government is making a decision like this
and what is the likely impact for the future gender
affirming care in Australia.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
I think it shows that people are learning from what's
happening in the States and speaking to everyone in the
process of making the story. I got the sense that
the lesson is that it's kind of everyone's responsibility not
to let the transgender diverse community become this political football
in Australia and not to let, you know, this ideologically
(14:27):
driven set of politics of the day kind of stand
in the way of quite a significant body of medical
research showing the safety of pubity blockers and hormone therapy.
So and the backlash to what's happening in Queensland, especially
at the federal government level, you know, does make some
people cautiously optimistic that maybe there isn't that appetite for
that kind of politics. More broadly in Australia, the same way,
(14:51):
and to the same extent that it's happening in the
US and the UK and the community support the groups
like Project four nine to one have seen. I think
our testament to that as well, and so while there
was a lot of cautious optimism, there is also a
warning to not get complacent.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
So really want people to keep focusing on how we
support our young people. I am looking forward to that
point when Project four nine one no longer is necessary,
but I'm not sure when that might be.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Shane, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Thanks for having me on, Daniel.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
If this episode has raised issues for you, or if
you're concerned about someone you know, you can call Lifeline
on thirteen eleven fourteen. You can also call q Life
on one eight hundred one, eight four five two seven.
Support is also available at Switchboard, Queer Space, Transcend Australia,
Transgender Victoria and Minus eighteen. Also in the news, most
(15:57):
doctors say they won't move to full bonk billing, despite
promises by both major parties. ABCWS surveyed more than eight
hundred gps and combine their findings with data from the
Royal College of General Practitioners. Ninety percent of doctors told
the ABC they wouldn't move to full bulk billing, with
many saying the eight point five billion dollar scheme pledged
by Labor and match dollar for dollar by the Coalition
(16:19):
shows a lack of understanding for how general practice works.
They warned the policy could incentivize shorter consults and compromise care,
and the Prime Minister says there's no place for violence.
After a series of incidents at pre polling booths this week, Yesterday,
a teenager in Anthony Alberizi's electric was charged over an
alleged assault of a man at a polling booth. The
(16:41):
man was wearing a Maga hat. Prominence to Alberzi stressed
the need for respect of polling booths and wished the
man a swift recovery. I'm Daniel James. This is seven
am and we'll be back tomorrow with the full rap
of all the biggest political moments of the week. See
it then
Speaker 6 (17:01):
You w
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