Home›Questions on Notice›QoN 1766

❓ Question on Notice regarding medical interventions on children with intersex variations, seeking information on legal reforms and actions taken to protect their rights, particularly in light of the WA Labor platform. The Attorney General deferred to the Minister for Health's response to a similar question.

AnsweredQoN 1766Legislative Council

Asked

29 November 2023

Member

Hon Dr Brad Pettitt

Portfolio

Attorney General

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to non-essential medical interventions, including surgical and hormonal procedures, that children at Perth Children's Hospital (PCH) are still subjected to without their personal, informed consent. These procedures are often harmful and can leave children to grow up feeling as if they fit into the body that medicine assigned them. Children with intersex variations may have their gonads removed that were safely and effectively producing hormones and then subsequently be required to undergo Hormone Replacement Therapy as a young adult so they can develop. Some children have their genitals ‘normalised’ to make them fit into the body that medicine assigned them and these procedures are not reversible. These interventions can have lifelong consequences including trauma, shame, scarring, loss of sexual function, loss of sensation and infertility. I also refer to the passing of the Variations in Sex Characteristics (Restricted Medical Treatment) Bill in the Australian Capital Territory in June 2023 and to similar reforms that are now being considered in Victoria, and I ask: (a) is the Attorney General currently considering and legal reforms in Western Australia to protect the human rights and choices of people with innate variations of sex characteristics in medical settings; (b) if yes, please outline how the Attorney General plans to protect the human rights and choices of intersex people in medical settings in Western Australia; (c) if no to (a), why not; (d) will the Attorney General commit to ending deferrable treatments on intersex people's sex characteristics until they are old enough to participate meaningfully in those decisions; (e) if no to (d), why not; (f) what actions are being taken to change the Criminal Code Amendment Act to protect children with innate variations in sex characteristics from medical interventions without their personal, informed consent; (g) if no to (f), why not; (h) what actions are being taken to change the Equal Opportunity Act to protect children with innate variations in sex characteristics from medical interventions without their personal, informed consent; (i) if no to (h), why not; (j) what actions are being taken to change the Gender Reassignment Act to protect children with innate variations in sex characteristics from medical interventions without their personal, informed consent; (k) if no to (j), why not; and (l) I refer to Health Policy 109 from the 2022 WA Labor Platform , which states: "WA Labor supports the rights of intersex people to have agency and autonomy, including in medical settings. WA Labor will ensure effective oversight of clinical practices, and end harmful practices that modify sex characteristics of people with intersex variations without personal informed consent.": (i) why do children with innate variations in sex characteristics continue to be subjected to deferrable and irreversible surgeries in Western Australia; (ii) what specific actions have you taken as Attorney General to protect the rights of people with variations in sex characteristics in medical settings in line with your party's own platform; and (iii) if no action were taken in relation to (ii), why not?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered

27 February 2024

Responded by

Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney General

Response time

3 days

(a)-(l) I refer to Legislative Council Question on Notice 1768, which was directed to the Minister for Health and asks the same questions, which principally relate to matters of medical treatment and medical settings. Please refer to the answers provided to Legislative Council Question on Notice 1768.

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