Overview
- Justice Peter Callaghan set aside the January 28 health service directive on procedural grounds, finding required consultation with Hospital and Health Services did not occur.
- The judgment said it was more probable than not the directive was issued at the health minister’s direction and confirmed the case did not address the clinical merits of puberty blockers.
- Health Minister Tim Nicholls later used his ministerial powers to order a new pause on stage 1 and stage 2 treatments for under-18s in the public system, with existing patients exempt.
- The LGBTI Legal Service and the mother who brought the successful challenge are reviewing the ministerial direction and considering further legal action.
- The pause is set to apply until the government considers an independent review due November 30; earlier, about 491 children on waiting lists were blocked while roughly 547 continued care.