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New Zealand’s decision to halt new prescriptions of puberty blockers highlights a growing global reassessment that’s leaving Australia on the back foot.

New Zealand has just joined Team Sanity, becoming the latest nation to ban the use of so-called puberty blockers for young people suffering gender dysphoria.

The announcement came Wednesday, when NZ Health Minister Simeon Brown cited the UK’s landmark Cass review as the impetus for the ban, which will begin on December 19.

In his announcement, Mr Brown described the move as a “more consistent and carefully monitored approach,” and one that reflects similar moves in the UK, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

The ban will not apply to existing patients, nor to the drugs’ use in treating endometriosis, prostate cancer and other conditions “where there is strong clinical evidence of benefit”.

It only applies to new prescriptions of “gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues for the treatment of gender dysphoria or incongruence,” according to the official press release.

“The Ministry of Health’s evidence brief found that there is a lack of high-quality evidence” for the treatment, the statement explained, adding that the ban will stay in effect until the UK completes its clinical trial on the matter.

Puberty Blockers in Australia

New Zealand’s decision serves as an embarrassing reminder of Australia’s sluggish response to the puberty blocker scandal. As NZ Associate Health Minister Casey Costello remarked following the news:

We’ve seen the evidence. Puberty blockers cause irreversible harm to bone density, fertility, brain development, and future sexual function. Yet bureaucrats defend them, bowing to activist pressure instead of listening to common sense.

Only after a taxpayer-funded Cairns clinic allegedly prescribed the drugs to 42 underage patients without their parents’ consent — and Queensland subsequently imposed a statewide ban on the practice — did the Albanese government dare countenance the issue.

Even then, Health Minister Mark Butler only went so far as announcing a review of the treatment, ignoring more serious calls from over 100 prominent Australians to pause the practice immediately.

The Albanese government’s review is due for release in mid 2026 — a delay that will expose hundreds more Australian youth to the dangerous treatment pathway despite what we already know.

And yes, we know what Mark Butler will tell us in seven months’ time — because it will mirror exactly what the NZ government announced this week, what the Cass review revealed in April of last year, what the WPATH scandal exposed, and what governments all around the world have been saying for years on end:

There’s insufficient evidence regarding the benefits, risks and long-term outcomes of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria.

We’re adopting a precautionary, safety-focused approach with stronger clinical safeguards.

We’re aligning our policies with international reforms to ensure decisions follow the best available evidence.

It’s all so sadly predictable.

Follow the Science?

Ms Costello is right: bureaucrats — on both sides of the ditch — have defended the use of puberty blockers because they are beholden to radical activists.

The party that endlessly bloviates about “following the science” is refusing to follow the science. The side of politics that styles itself as “progressive” is resisting progress on this issue at all costs.

By mid next year, the Albanese government will no doubt assure us how sensible they are in their restraint for finally imposing a ban. They’ll probably deride the opposition for lacking the same prudence.

Meanwhile, you read it here first: puberty blockers — and the entire “gender-affirming care” schtick — is quack science. It belongs in the same category as bloodletting and lobotomies. And it will be to Australia’s everlasting shame — and the detriment of countless young people — that we ever fell for the snake oil in the first place.

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Image courtesy of Unsplash.