South Australia Moves to Protect Children From Irreversible Puberty Blockers
A One Nation bill would make South Australia the first state to ban puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones for gender dysphoria.
On 17 June, South Australian MLC Cory Bernardi introduced a bill that was uncontroversial a decade ago: a law to ban the prescription of puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones to children under 18 for the treatment of gender dysphoria.[1] "The first duty of medicine is to do no harm," Bernardi told the Legislative Council, "and where the evidence is uncertain, where the long-term consequences are significant, and where the patients involved are children who cannot fully appreciate those consequences, parliament has both the authority and the responsibility to act."[1]
He's right. And South Australia's own record shows exactly why parliament, not a hospital gender clinic, needs to be the one drawing this line.
What's Actually Happening at the Women's and Children's Hospital
Bernardi's bill isn't a response to a hypothetical. Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital publicly apologised this year after admitting that 22 children — one just 11 years old — were approved for hormone treatment between July 2023 and July 2024 without completing the hospital’s required psychiatric assessment.[2] The hospital's own gender service page is explicit that psychiatric diagnostic confirmation is required before any referral to the medical team.[3] Twenty-two children didn't get it. The hospital's chief executive has since ordered a review.[2]
That's not a one-off. Referrals to the clinic have grown roughly 38% a year, with around 160 new cases in 2024 alone, and South Australian Health data estimates as many as 2,172 children aged 6 to 17 are currently seeking so called care through the service.[4] Despite that scale, South Australia is one of six states and territories that still won't release basic data on how many children are actually being prescribed puberty blockers.[1]
This isn't the first attempt to get transparency. In 2023, SA-BEST's Frank Pangallo moved for a parliamentary select committee inquiry into gender dysphoria care for young people. He withdrew the motion in February 2024 after the Labor Government, the Greens, and even Liberal MLC Michelle Lensink publicly committed to voting it down.[1] An inquiry into how children are being treated at a taxpayer-funded clinic couldn't even get a hearing.
Also read: How the LGBT-lobby tries to influence your children
The Rest of the World Is Already Moving This Way
Bernardi’s concerns have been affirmed internationally. The UK's Cass Review — a four-year, government-commissioned examination that included eight independent systematic evidence reviews from the University of York — found the evidence for puberty blockers in this context too weak to support routine use, concluding it did not adequately support the claim that these treatments reduce suicide risk.[5] The NHS has since restricted puberty blockers to formal research settings only. Finland and Sweden have both moved in the same direction, after their own systematic reviews found that the evidence for medical transition in minors is inconclusive, and now prioritise psychotherapy and psychosocial support as first-line care.[1]
Queensland got there first in Australia. In January 2025, the state paused new prescriptions of puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones for minors pending an independent review.[6] That review — led by Professor Ruth Vine — stopped short of recommending a full ban, calling instead for careful, case-by-case decisions.[7] The government held the pause anyway. When a parent challenged it, and the Supreme Court briefly overturned the freeze in October, the Health Minister reinstated it by ministerial direction within hours. It remains in place today.[6]
Why This Needs to Be Law, Not a Minister's Signature
The Queensland example is the real case for Bernardi's bill. A ministerial direction lasts as long as the minister does. Queensland demonstrated how easily a ministerial decision can be challenged in court, reversed, and reinstated depending on who holds the health portfolio and judicial discretion. Legislation is durable in a way an administrative pause is not, which is exactly why South Australia should not settle for a directive when it can make this policy law.
Children experiencing gender distress deserve real care — counselling, psychiatric support, and time. What they don't deserve is a clinic that skips its own safeguards in a state that is deliberately secretive about how many children are on these drugs at all. Bernardi's bill would fix that. It's up to South Australians to make sure their parliament actually votes on it.
References:
- Cory Bernardi MLC, second reading speech, Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) (Childhood Gender Dysphoria) Amendment Bill, SA Legislative Council, 17 June 2026
- Women's and Children's Hospital, public statement; CEO Rebecca Graham, cited 4 April 2025
- Women's and Children's Hospital, Gender Diversity Service (patient information page)
- SA Department of Health, "Model of Care: Gender Diversity" (July 2023); ABC News, 4 April 2025
- Cass Review, Final Report, April 2024
- ABC News, "Supreme Court in Brisbane overturns controversial freeze on puberty blockers for adolescents," 28 October 2025; QNews, 28 October 2025
- Queensland Children's Gender Service external evaluation (Vine Review), 2024