The fight against what campaigners term transphobic laws in Queensland is intensifying, as a government-imposed halt on new youth patients accessing gender-affirming healthcare in the public system faces legal challenges and leaves families facing severe financial and emotional strain.
In January 2025, Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced an immediate pause on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for new patients under 18 seeking treatment for gender dysphoria. The government stated the measure was temporary, pending a broader review, and would not affect existing patients of the Queensland Children’s Gender Service (QCGS).
The decision was controversially linked by the government to alleged "unauthorised" hormone provision at the Cairns Sexual Health Service, a clinic far from Brisbane's main QCGS. The halt was formalised in a directive from Queensland Health Director-General Dr David Rosengren, with the definition of a "new patient" becoming a central point of legal contention.
The policy has been widely condemned. The Australian Medical Association and advocacy group Equality Australia have strongly criticised the move, with the latter warning of "catastrophic impacts" and labelling Queensland an "outlier state" on transgender healthcare.
The human cost of the policy is now starkly evident. One Queensland mother, speaking anonymously to protect her family's privacy, detailed the profound impact on her daughter, a long-term QCGS patient. Her daughter was awaiting a crucial appointment with a paediatric endocrinologist when the ban took effect, abruptly cutting off her pathway to public treatment.
"My daughter’s health is my top priority," the mother stated. Forced into the private healthcare system, she revealed the crippling expenses now required for her daughter's care, with single injections for puberty blockers costing hundreds and sometimes nearly $2,000—costs that would have been covered publicly before the pause.
"15 days is all it took in January 2025 for the Crisafulli Government to strip my daughter and other trans young people of their human right to access health services without discrimination," she said.
The mother has vowed to continue her fight regardless of the ongoing court case's outcome, stating: "If the Court finds that the ban does apply to my daughter, our fight against the Crisafulli Government’s ban on gender affirming care will continue." The situation highlights a deepening national divide over transgender healthcare, with Queensland's policy leaving vulnerable young people and their families in a state of limbo.
