Ged Kearney, the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, launched the Draft Statement on Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation in Health and Medical Research in Perth on Friday.

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The Assistant Minister was joined by the member for Perth, Patrick Gorman, making the announcement at Living Proud – Western Australia’s LGBTIQA+ community support group that will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024.

The development of the statement is part of the Albanese government’s multi-million-dollar investment in LGBTIQA+ health.

“We all have the right to be included in safe, high-quality health and medical research. This Statement is reflective of Labor’s commitment to women’s and LGBTIQA+ health.” Minster Kearney said.

“I know from experience that better partnerships between consumers, researchers, clinicians, and other research stakeholders leads to better health outcomes for more people.

“For too long women and LGBTIQA+ Australians have been underrepresented in health and medical research and have all too often had their experiences ignored. Our government is committed to a stronger, more inclusive health and medical research industry.” Kearney said.

The draft statement was released by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Department of Health and Aged Care, who responsible for the implementation of the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). They say extensive consultation was undertaken in developing the statement.

Patrick Gorman said it was a welcome move that the draft statement was being released as Western Australia’s LGBTIQA+ community celebrate Perth’s annual PrideFEST.

Public consultation opened on 6th of November for six weeks. The draft statement is available online.

Living Proud’s Chairperson Barry Cosker encouraged members of the LGBTIQA+ communities across the nation to provide feedback.

“We know that there are significant health disparities between the LGBTIQA+ community and the general population. We need more research and accurate data that will help us understand and better respond to these issues in the LGBTIQA+ community. We welcome this statement from the Assistant Minister today and encourage members of the community to provide comment”. Cosker said in a statement announcing the consultation.

Living Proud board member Meaghan Holden said the new research and clear guidelines would make a significant impact.

“What we do know is that there are significant health disparities for LGBTQIA+ people when it comes to health and wellbeing, as opposed to the broader population.

“We know that LGBTI people are less likely to access health healthcare services, because of discrimination and stigma. We often know we also know that we have unique experiences of the health care system, and often complex health needs, and we really struggle as a community to often get appropriate health care.” Holden said.

“We also know there’s significant gaps in data and information to inform service delivery to inform government policy, and to inform services like Living Proud to be able to respond to the needs of our community, and to provide informed and safe and appropriate services, so, we very much welcome this statement.”

Graeme Watson 

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