Released 22/03/2023
In an Australian first, the ACT Government will today introduce the Variation in Sex Characteristics (Restricted Medical Treatment) Bill 2023, to protect the rights and choices of people with variations in sex characteristics in medical settings.
The new legislation recognises that people with variations in sex characteristics should not be subject to harm through inappropriate medical interventions.
It has long been recommended, through national and international reviews and by the intersex community, that governments take action to protect the human rights of intersex people in medical settings and for irreversible and non-urgent procedures to be deferred until the person is old enough to be able to decide for themselves what is done to their bodies.
There are people with variations in sex characteristics and their families who have experienced harm through inappropriate medical interventions.
This Bill provides a new approach that seeks to prevent those experiences from being repeated.
I am proud that the ACT is the first jurisdiction in Australia, and one of the first in the world, to make these reforms a reality and a promise of change.
Parents and families of intersex children have not all received the support and help that they needed to navigate decisions and treatment pathways for their child. These reforms will give intersex people and their families more support and expert guidance for their medical treatment choices.
Having a variation in sex characteristics means that part of your body, like genitals or features that emerge in puberty – breasts, body hair or facial hair – do not fit medical and social norms for female or male bodies. Variations in sex characteristics is also called ‘intersex’.
The legislation is only one part of significant reform in this area, with the Government investing $2.6 million over four years in new services and supports. This includes:
- An improved decision-making framework
- The establishment of a Variation in Sex Characteristics Psychosocial Support Unit at The Canberra Hospital with specialist staff to support intersex people and their families
- Training packages for health professionals
This legislation enables the ACT Government to fulfil a key commitment in the implementation of the Capital of Equality Strategy and the reforms demonstrate the Government’s commitment to making Canberra a more inclusive, progressive and equal for all Canberrans.
Quote attributable to Morgan Carpenter, Executive Director of Intersex Human Rights Australia:
These reforms promise to ensure that medical interventions on many people with innate variations of sex characteristics meet human rights norms. They will enable individuals, to the maximum extent possible, to make their own decisions about their own bodies – in their own time, and in line with their own values and principles. We hope that other jurisdictions will take up the challenge, implementing the same reforms to ensure maximum benefit and national consistency.
Quote attributable to Steph Lum, Intersex advocate and researcher
The Bill’s measures to regulate treatments are vital. I’m really glad I have my intersex variation. I can’t really imagine myself any other way. I would certainly never choose to have been born any differently.
The problem is that my story is the exception and not the rule.
Our bodies don’t need to be forcibly changed – this Bill will support intersex people, all intersex people, to be able to make their own choices, over their own bodies in their own time.
Quote attributable to Cody Smith, Training and Communications Officer, Intersex Human Rights Australia
The Bill creates closure and safeguards the next generation of intersex people.
This Bill ensures that where and when an intersex person can make a decision, that they are the ones making that decision, that it's not taken away from them.
What I hope for with the legislation is stopping a dripping tap. If no intersex people are being harmed then we can really start to heal as a community and start to thrive without just having these tragic stories of trauma.
Putting that behind us just feels like the best thing we can do now.
- Statement ends -
Andrew Barr, MLA | Media Releases