Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank Senator McAllister for her very considered words on this very sensitive issue. And I will be brief. I just want to put on the record, though, why my colleagues and I will actually be supporting this motion, and it's not for all of the reasons that Senator Hanson has explained; it's about understanding the committee process in this place and that the committee this would be referred to is actually chaired, as I understand it, by Senator Rice from the Greens.

I want to put on the record my understanding and support for this small and vulnerable community. Indeed, I know people from this community who live in regional areas and have additional challenges, such as access to support services and these specialist clinicians. I support an inquiry to help in the education process as well so that people understand some of the points that Senator McAllister raised. But I also want to reassure people that in Australia we do provide holistic clinical services to young people and we do listen to their families, because Australia is different. My understanding of the current situation is that families and parents are still very much involved and part of the process, and maybe we need to highlight that a little bit more because there is a lot of misinformation on these issues.

I also want to reassure not just families and the wider community at large but also myself that we don't have issues like those that have been discovered in other nations. I will quote from the Cass review, which was commissioned in September 2020, into the Tavistock clinic in the United Kingdom. I am fully aware that, yes, the clinic was initially due to be closed by a court, but then that ruling was overturned by a superior court. I acknowledge that. But the UK government has now determined that Tavistock, as a standalone clinic by itself, is going to close in a transitioned manner, that two clinics will then open up—one in the north, one in the south—and that a lot of the issues identified in the Cass report must be acknowledged and actually addressed with the new clinics. Dr Cass found that, once patients are identified as having gender related distress, other healthcare issues they have—such as being neurodivergent—can sometimes be overlooked. I believe through an inquiry I can reassure myself and we can reassure the wider community that that isn't happening in Australia and that we are ensuring that our young people who come forward with gender distress actually get the full range of supports—that they get to talk to psychologists, get assessed, talk to specialist GPs and fully understand the risks and the positive benefits of the choices that they are making—and their parents are with them all the way.

I know that, for the gender-diverse kids who live in the regions and the families of those children, this is not an issue they take lightly. This is not an issue where someone just wakes up in the morning. This is something that families work through. It is a journey. It is a long process. The trans kids I know are absolutely remarkable. They are brave, they are strong and they are proud people. I applaud them, but I also know that they have had a lot of family support and a lot of medical and specialist support. I just think that, by supporting this inquiry, we'll actually enable a lot of those stories to come out as well. So my colleagues and I will be supporting this inquiry, but we will also accept the will of the Senate.