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The Northern Territory will no longer fund puberty-suppressing drugs or cross-sex hormones for children, following evidence-based caution from Queensland and similar moves by international authorities.

Children in the Northern Territory will no longer have access to publicly funded puberty-suppressing drugs or cross-sex hormones.

Health Minister Steve Edgington announced the decisive move just prior to Christmas, aligning the NT’s policy with Queensland and other jurisdictions, including New Zealand and a swathe of European nations.

The change follows an independent review in Queensland highlighting the limited evidence supporting such treatments for minors.

“In other places, cases have emerged where children as young as 12 were treated outside clinical guidelines, including an absence of parental consent,” Mr Edgington told the Sunday Territorian.

“Territory kids deserve to grow up free from these dangerous, ideologically driven practices with irreversible consequences,” Mr Edgington insisted, adding that adolescent mental health services would remain the focus of NT Health.

He noted that the policy shift would affect only a “handful of teenagers” previously accessing the drugs through the public health system.

Evidence Base Under Scrutiny

The Queensland review, led by Victoria’s former chief psychiatrist Ruth Vine, evaluated the scientific evidence underpinning puberty-suppressing drugs and cross-sex hormones for minors suffering from gender dysphoria.

The report concluded that international research shows the evidence base for these drugs remains limited, and noted that there is a “paucity of evidence about other long-term risks or benefits” associated with such interventions.

It outlined three possible approaches: continue the existing ban, overturn it, or reintroduce treatments with stricter oversight. Queensland chose to extend its ban until 2031, awaiting results from the landmark UK PATHWAYS trial, which will study how puberty-suppressing drugs and cross-sex hormones affect the physical, social, and emotional wellbeing of young people with gender incongruence.

The UK PATHWAYS trial is being conducted by King’s College London, which has stated on its website: “Right now, there isn’t enough information about the possible benefits or risks that young people with gender incongruence may experience when taking puberty suppressing hormones.”

NT Aligns with Global Authorities

By suspending public funding for these treatments, the NT follows a growing international trend of caution. Countries including the UK, France, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden have all tightened regulations around prescribing chemical castration drugs to children and adolescents.

Mr Edgington framed the decision as consistent with a duty to protect vulnerable youth. “The Territory’s public health system will prioritise adolescent mental health, not experimental medical interventions,” he declared.

The move also reflects concerns raised by the Australian Christian Lobby, which petitioned the NT government in October 2024 to suspend all medical and surgical transitioning for minors.

As reported by The Australian, the NT ban has “caused surprise because Territory Health Minister Steve Edgington indicated in March that he did not intend to intervene in the use of puberty blockers and hormones for minors”.

Puberty-suppressing drugs, now no longer publicly funded in the NT, are used to halt the release of sex hormones and inhibit natural puberty, and are the same class of medication used to chemically castrate violent sex offenders, though at lower doses.

Cross-sex hormones, also affected by the NT’s funding change, permanently alter an adolescent’s body. Estrogen is used to reduce testosterone in boys and promote breast growth, though it is known to cause infertility and blood clots in some cases. In girls, testosterone is administered to deepen the voice and increase muscle mass, and may also lead to permanent infertility and other metabolic changes.

The UK PATHWAYS trial is scheduled to release its full results in 2031.

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Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.