A $10 million grant from the Federal Department of Health will promote the controversial ‘affirming’ model of treatment for those with gender-related distress, says the director of a charity promoting evidence-based care and prevention of harm from gender-related medical interventions.
Genspect Australia is a registered health promotion charity that supports the principles of cultural safety and inclusion, said board director, Professor Gary Geelhoed.
“But ‘affirming care’ when applied to gender confused young people is not a synonym for safe care,” he said.
The grant was awarded on 3 August to La Trobe University’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) together with ACON, Thorne Harbour Health and technology company Portable, by the Minister for Health, the Hon Mark Butler MP. It aims to establish a voluntary national training and accreditation scheme, supporting primary care providers to deliver “safe, inclusive and affirming care for LGBTIQA+ people.”
“We welcome safe and culturally respectful care for all Australians. But ‘affirming care’, as promoted by ARCSHS, ACON and Thorne Harbour Health, refers to a specific model of treatment for people with gender incongruence or dysphoria that encourages the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery, including for minors,” said Professor Geelhoed. “And the affirming model for children and adolescents is still under Commonwealth review.’’
Minister Butler has acknowledged that this area of healthcare is “contested and evolving,” and has directed the NHMRC to review the Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for Trans and Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents (Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, 2018) – the foundational Australian articulation of the affirming model for children and adolescents – and to develop new national clinical practice guidelines. Those guidelines are not expected to be completed until April 2028.
Successive Government-commissioned reviews in the UK, Finland and Sweden have found the evidence base for this model in paediatric and adolescent care is weak or of low certainty.
“The Commonwealth is now funding the national rollout of primary care training and accreditation for the very model of care that is currently under NHMRC review at the Minister’s own direction,” said Professor Geelhoed.
For adults, no Commonwealth endorsed standards exist
“For adults, the position is equally concerning”, said Genspect Australia’s chair, Dr Nadia David.
“The document most commonly cited for adult hormone administration – the Australian Informed Consent Standards of Care for Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy (AusPATH, 2026) – was produced by an advocacy organisation, and has not been approved by a Commonwealth authority.”
The model proceeds on the patient’s self-reported gender incongruence or dysphoria, without the burden of a formal diagnosis, or any requirement for independent psychological assessment, or advice on alternative treatments. “This consumer-led medicine carries significant risks for patients undergoing interventions with lifelong consequences. It is not an approach replicated in other areas of medicine,” said Dr David.
The Commonwealth’s own expert body, the Medical Services Advisory Committee recognised the lack of scrutiny in this field, noting in April 2025 a “need for Australian evidence-based guidelines to inform management and treatment … for adults with gender incongruence and gender dysphoria.” MSAC also noted that detransition and regret were likely underestimated.
Absent these evidence-based guidelines, the training and accreditation funded by this grant will fill a clinical vacuum with a contested model.
A scheme that will expose patients and GPs to risk
Genspect Australia believes the scheme will exacerbate health and wellbeing risks for young Australians with gender incongruence or dysphoria and channel them towards unproven medical interventions with irreversible effects.
“Safe care for these vulnerable young people cannot be separated from the careful assessment and management of frequently co-occurring conditions – autism, ADHD, complex trauma, depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder – that may explain or exacerbate a decision to pursue gender-affirming medical interventions. This is a point recently underscored by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP, Victoria),” said Professor Geelhoed.
There is a growing body of litigation, in Australia and overseas, brought by detransitioners who believed they were affirmed onto medical pathways without adequate assessment of underlying co-morbidities. MDA National, a major medical defence organisation, has, since 2023, declined to indemnify GPs initiating cross-sex hormones for patients under 18.
Genspect Australia raised its concerns about the grant offer with the Minister on 25 March 2026 and discussed them with the Department in June.
“Today, we urge the Minister to instruct the NHMRC to develop clinical guidelines for adults with gender incongruence or dysphoria, as it is already doing for children and adolescents, and to pause the implementation of this scheme until all essential guidelines are in place. Young Australians deserve no less,” said Dr David.
Quotes
Professor Gary Geelhoed, Director, Clinical Advisory Group, Genspect Australia:
“Cultural safety and inclusion matter, and Genspect supports these principles. But ‘affirming care’ when applied to gender confused young people is not a synonym for safe care. It is a specific and contested treatment model. Australians are entitled to expect that a $10 million Commonwealth accreditation scheme rests on an evidence-based clinical framework. It does not. The scheme should not proceed to accreditation of providers until it does.”
Nadia David, Chair, Genspect Australia:
“The Commonwealth’s own medical advisory committee has told the Minister that Australia needs adult standards of care, and the NHMRC is still examining paediatric standards. Why then is the Minister rolling out a $10 million accreditation and training scheme for ‘affirming care’? Surely the answer is to ensure those processes are in place first.”
ENDS
Notes
Minister’s announcement of 3 August 2026: “$18.1 million to improve the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ Australians” — of which $10 million is allocated to the training and accreditation scheme addressed in this release. Available at health.gov.au.
Consortium announcement (La Trobe, 4 August 2026): “$10m initiative to improve LGBTIQA+ healthcare” — La Trobe’s statement confirms the scheme will establish “a voluntary training and accreditation program for primary care providers” and “a searchable national directory of accredited providers,” delivering a “nationally recognised framework for inclusive and affirming care.” Available at latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2026/release/$10m-initiative-to-improve-lgbtiqa-healthcare.
ACON announcement, “$10m Initiative to Improve LGBTIQA+ Healthcare” (4 August 2026), at acon.org.au/about-acon/latest-news
Thorne Harbour Health CEO Chad Hughes describes the program as helping providers “deliver affirming care.”
ARCSHS (La Trobe): Rainbow Realities: In-depth analyses of large-scale LGBTQA+ health and wellbeing data in Australia (2023), Chapter 9 — Gender Affirmation and Trans Affirming Practices, at latrobe.edu.au/arcshs/work/lgbtiq-health/rainbow-realities.latrobe.edu
ACON – TransHub, at transhub.org.au, including What is Gender Affirmation?, Hormones 101, Starting Hormones, and the Teenagers allies page.
Thorne Harbour Health – Equinox Gender Diverse Health Centre, Protocols for the Initiation of Hormone Therapy for Trans and Gender Diverse Patients (2020) and the Hormone Therapy Prescribing Guide for General Practitioners (2020), at equinox.org.au/resources
International reviews commissioned by comparable jurisdictions have concluded the evidence base for the affirming model in paediatric and adolescent care is weak or of low certainty.
Cass Review (Final Report, UK, April 2024) at cass.independent-review.uk
COHERE Finland, Medical treatment methods for dysphoria associated with variations in the gender identity of minors (11 June 2020) at https://palveluvalikoima.fi/en/recommendations
Sweden, Hormone treatment of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria (2022) at https://www.sbu.se/en/publications/sbu-assesses/hormone-treatment-of-children-and-adolescents-with-gender-dysphoria
AusPATH Australian Standards of Care for Informed Consent Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy (30 April 2026), Australian Professional Association for Trans Health. AusPATH describes the Standards as providing “clear, practical guidance for GPs and other primary care clinicians delivering … gender-affirming hormone therapy” using “an informed-consent model tailored to Australian primary care.” Available at auspath.org.au/standards-of-care
MSAC 1754 Public Summary Document (April 2025), Medical Services Advisory Committee, Commonwealth Department of Health. Quoted passages at pp. 5–6. Available at msac.gov.au/1754-public.
Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for Trans and Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents (Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, 2018, 2023), the foundational Australian articulation of the affirming model for children and adolescents, is currently the subject of NHMRC review at the Minister’s direction.
https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark-butler-mp/media/minister-for-health-and-aged-care-second-press-conference-31-january-2025?
RACGP Victoria acknowledgement of comorbidity profile: submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission review of the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021, Submission 196.
https://www.lawreform.vic.gov.au/change-or-suppression-practices-submissions/
MDA National, Cover for the treatment of Gender Transition in Minors (2023, updated 2026), at mdanational.com.au/notice/gender-transition-in-minors