{"id":335207,"date":"2025-12-08T16:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/335207\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:02:13","slug":"queensland-government-facing-fresh-legal-challenge-over-controversial-puberty-blocker-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/335207\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland government facing fresh legal challenge over controversial puberty blocker ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland government is facing a fresh legal challenge over its controversial puberty blocker ban for transgender adolescents.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the LGBTI Legal Service filed an application in the Queensland Supreme Court to clarify a ministerial directive prohibiting the prescription of puberty blockers and hormones to new young patients with gender dysphoria in the public health system.<\/p>\n

Health Minister Tim Nicholls issued the October 28 order<\/a> just hours after a court quashed an earlier directive made by Queensland Health Director-General Dr David Rosengren.<\/p>\n

A judge agreed the Rosengren directive, which was issued in late January, was unlawful because it was made without adequate consultation and at the direction of the minister.<\/p>\n

But later that day, Mr Nicholls used his ministerial power to reinstate the ban.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Health Minister Tim Nicholls reinstated the puberty blocker ban in October.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

The latest legal action, expected to be heard next month, is being pursued on behalf of the same mother who successfully fought the Rosengren directive.<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs help:QLife 1800 184 527<\/a>Suicide Call Back Service<\/a> on 1300 659 467Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN<\/a>\u00a0on 13 92 76Kids Helpline<\/a> on 1800 551 800Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 224 636Headspace<\/a> on 1800 650 890ReachOut<\/a> at au.reachout.com<\/a>MensLine Australia<\/a> on 1300 789 978<\/p>\n

She is arguing her daughter should qualify for puberty blockers in the public system because she has received gender-affirming care privately this year, so should not be classified as a “new patient”.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the LGBTI Legal Service said it was asking the Supreme Court to make orders that “new patient” does not include anyone under 18 who received gender-affirming care before the October 28 ministerial directive.<\/p>\n

“If the Supreme Court does this, it will pave the way not only for her to receive gender affirming health care from the Queensland Children\u2019s Gender Clinic, but for numerous other trans young people in similar circumstances,” the service said.<\/p>\n

The mother, who cannot be named to protect her daughter\u2019s identity, said the ministerial direction was made “with lightning speed”.<\/p>\n

\"trans<\/p>\n

Trans rights supporters gathered outside the Supreme Court in Brisbane during the last legal challenge. (ABC News: Janelle Miles)<\/p>\n

She said it was made “without input from trans young people and their parents and without consulting anyone with expertise in treating trans young people”.<\/p>\n

Mother of trans teen takes legal action over puberty blocker freeze<\/a><\/p>\n

The mother of a trans teenager has successfully taken the first step in legal action against Queensland Health’s director-general over the state’s freeze on puberty blockers.<\/p>\n

Mr Nicholls\u2019 October 28 directive was made within hours after Supreme Court judge Peter Callaghan quashed the original Rosengren ban.<\/p>\n

The Queensland government was ordered to pay legal costs but is yet to reveal how much the legal loss cost taxpayers.<\/p>\n

“Seven hours wasn\u2019t even long enough for the minister to prepare a direction that was clear and unambiguous, let alone adequately consider all of the issues,” the mum said.<\/p>\n

Her daughter has been receiving puberty blockers in the private system, which recently cost $1,869 for six months.<\/p>\n

Queensland Health would not comment on Friday\u2019s Supreme Court application.<\/p>\n

“As this matter is before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment,” a department spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The LGBTI Legal Service has filed an application in the Queensland Supreme Court to challenge the government’s puberty blocker directive. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)<\/p>\n

The latest court proceedings come as Mr Nicholls considers an independent review the government ordered into the use of puberty blockers by public doctors for trans adolescents.<\/p>\n

Headed by Victoria’s former chief psychiatrist, Professor Ruth Vine, the report was handed to the government more than a week ago, but there is no timeline on when it will be considered by state cabinet<\/a> or if it will be publicly released.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Premier David Crisafulli has indicated the review will shape the future of publicly accessible health care for young trans people in Queensland.<\/p>\n

Mr Nicholls told journalists at the weekend he was still in the process of reading the Vine report.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m about 200 pages into it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s quite a voluminous report. It will be the subject to the advice from the department and also the government’s policy considerations about it.”<\/p>\n

Mr Nicholls said the report was yet to go to cabinet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Queensland government is facing a fresh legal challenge over its controversial puberty blocker ban for transgender adolescents.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,17652,651,5266,80169,44,139863,94,701,15878,1049,187000,46785],"class_list":["post-335207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ban","tag-brisbane","tag-health-care","tag-health-minister-tim-nicholls","tag-news","tag-puberty-blockers","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-queensland-government","tag-supreme-court","tag-trans-teens","tag-transgender"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}