MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
GRAHAM PERRETT MP
MEMBER FOR MORETON
LABOR CHAIR OF PARLIAMENTARY FRIENDSHIP GROUP FOR LGBTIQ AUSTRALIANS
BRANDIS NEEDS TO ACT IMMEDIATELY TO END THE DISTRESS EXPERIENCED BY TRANSGENDER CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES
The Attorney-General remains deaf to the brave calls of families of transgender children, and the children themselves, advocating for changes to the Family Law Act.
Currently, these children need to apply for an Order from the Family Court before they can access Stage Two Hormone Treatment. This is an expensive and unnecessary process that creates further traumatic delays for these children and their families when time is of the essence.
The Family Court itself has been advocating for change. The Chief Justice of the Family Court, Diana Bryant said in July that we need to find a more simple solution. The Chief Justice has asked the Attorney-Generals Department for a roundtable to sort out a simpler and consistent method of dealing with these matters.
The bi-partisan LGBTIQ Parliamentary Friendship Group hosted a group of transgender children and their families in Parliament House earlier in the year.
The Attorney-General has been sitting on his hands for far too long on this issue, said Shadow Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus QC MP.
While it is now clear that this Attorney-General has no interest in useful law reform, when we have the courts themselves asking the Attorney-General to fix a failure in the system, he should be acting immediately.
You would have to be completely heartless to not empathise with the distress of these families at the expensive and frustratingly slow process currently required to access stage two hormone treatment, said Graham Perrett, Labor Chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for LGBTIQ Australians.
It is past time that these families were listened to and the Attorney-General needs to act now.
TUESDAY 16 AUGUST, 2016
