Conservative groups have praised WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam’s stance against transgender healthcare that allows young people to be treated with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
On Monday Mettam announced the Liberal’s new policy that calls for an immediate ban of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in the treatment of young people experiencing gender dysphoria.
Mettam has vowed to bring in the ban forcing medical professionals to change the way they treat gender dysphoria if she’s successful at winning the 2025 state election.
A Liberal government would then conduct a public inquiry into the ways doctors have been treating gender dysphoria to date.
Leading anti-transgender organisation Binary Australia has praised Mettam’s stance.
“Finally, there is a political leader who is willing to do the right thing for children.” said Kirrlalie Smith from Binary in a statement.
Praise also came from political party Family First, whose spokesperson is former Australian Christian Lobby leader Lyle Shelton.
Family First said Mettam was providing the “political breakthrough” they’d been seeking in their campaign to wind back the healthcare options available to transgender youth.
“Now that Mettam has made a rush for the gates of the LGBTIQA+ ideology that has captured politicians everywhere, work must be done to root out the ideology in schools.
“That’s the next step and it will require courage, something still in short supply amongst the political class.” the Family First party said.
While Family Voice Australia, a conservative group who has run a long campaign against the affirmation model of healthcare for transgender youth, urged their members to contact Mettam and let her know their personal appreciation for her stance.
Praise also came from the Institute of Public Affairs with Daniel Wilde, the Deputy Executive Director of the conservative thinktank describing Mettam’s stance as “inspired leadership. during an appearance on Sky News.
Women’s Forum Australia also praised Mettam’s stance and said the Cook Labor government was “heading in the wrong direction” with its announcement that it would remove the WA Gender Recognition Board and plans to ban conversion therapy.
“Women’s Forum Australia applauds Ms Mettam for her courage and leadership in championing this policy, and we look forward to other leaders and political parties following her lead.” the group said.
Mettam has said her party’s stance against transgender healthcare is unrelated to their position on other LGBTIQA+ issues, but in relation to removing the gender board they have not yet reached an official position.
The Liberal leader said she was persuaded to make her stance after speaking to concerned medical professions who are not willing to publicly state their concerns and meeting with families of people who have regretted undergoing gender transition.
Rights advocates and medical experts say the UK’s Cass Review in not directly applicable to Australia
Mettam’s declaration has been condemned by LGBTIQA+ rights groups, who argue that the Liberal leaders reliance on the British Cass Review is questionable. Just.Equal Australia were quick to point any that the treatment approaches in the UK and Australia were not identical.
In a letter to the editor published in The West Australian former Senator Bria Greig also notes that while Mettam says she’s spoken to the families of people who have detransitioned and concerned doctors, her consultation did not appear to have included the Australian Medical Association, Australian Pediatric Association or parents of transgender children who are satisfied with their treatment.
While Equality Australia has not directly commented on the new policy from the Western Australian branch of the Liberal party, they have previous noted shortcomings in the Cass Review.
“The Cass review recommendations are at odds with the current evidence base, expert consensus and the majority of clinical guidelines around the world,” said Dr Portia Predny, Vice President of The Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) shortly after it’s release.
“In Australia, our guidelines for gender affirming care for young people already prioritise holistic, individualised and person-centred care with the involvement of multidisciplinary teams of clinicians with all kinds of areas of expertise, to help and support young people to navigate their gender journey.”
Dr Predny said applying the findings and recommendations of the Cass Review to the care of young people in Australia “was fundamentally flawed” because it looked specifically at the NHS system.
“The way that gender affirming care is accessed and provided in Australia is substantially different to the way that that care is or has been provided in the NHS,” she said.
Dr Predny also said there were many areas of medicine where it was not feasible or ethical to conduct Randomised Control Trials to collect the “highest quality” of evidence.
“One such area is gender affirming care but there are many others, including perinatal care, and a lot of paediatric care generally,” she said.
“Additionally, when you have multiple observational studies looking at a particular intervention and those studies are producing similar findings, the cumulative evidence becomes compelling.”
