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Outgoing Health Minister who misled Parliament on girls' breast removal referrals must be held to account

Family First Party

Family First upper house candidate Jane Foreman has called for outgoing Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas to be held to account after misleading Parliament about whether teenage girls were being referred for breast removal surgery so they could appear as boys.

 

Ms Foreman said the Minister’s own words, now on the public record, showed a deeply troubling contradiction that goes to the heart of ministerial accountability.

 

If elected to the Parliament at the November election, Ms Foreman said she would press for a Parliamentary inquiry that called Ms Thomas as a witness.

 

“In December 2023, Mary-Anne Thomas told the Victorian Parliament: ‘The Royal Children’s Hospital DOES NOT provide or refer children to surgical treatment.’” Ms Foreman said.

 

“But when pressed through a formal question on notice by Moira Deeming, the Minister was forced to admit the truth.”

 

“In her written response, she stated: ‘…where clinical need is determined, RCH clinicians may refer adolescents to a private specialist clinician to consider the appropriateness of the program and need for surgery.’”

 

Ms Foreman said this admission confirmed that teenage girls in Victoria can in fact be referred for breast removal procedures — irreversible surgeries designed to make them appear as boys.

 

“This is not a minor discrepancy. This is a clear case of the Parliament — and the Victorian public — being misled on an issue of the utmost seriousness,” she said.

 

“Victorians deserve to know why the Minister gave an absolute denial in Parliament, only to later concede that such referrals can and do occur.”

 

Ms Foreman said the issue was compounded by the gravity of the procedures involved.

 

“These are not abstract policy debates. We are talking about teenage girls being referred for the removal of healthy breasts — life-altering, irreversible surgeries — under the banner of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’,” she said.

 

“This is a stain on Victoria’s health system and a scandal over which Mary-Anne Thomas has presided.”

 

Ms Foreman said the Minister’s retirement ahead of the November election must not allow her to avoid scrutiny.

 

Ms Foreman said Victoria’s continued support for these practices placed it out of step with international developments.

 

“Countries like the UK, Sweden and Finland are stepping back from these interventions because of the risks and lack of evidence,” she said.

 

“Yet here in Victoria, children are still being placed on a pathway towards irreversible medical procedures.”

 

Ms Foreman also said it was disturbing that Ms Thomas rated her work in making it easier for unborn babies to be killed, something she describes as “abortion care”, as one of her achievements as Health Minister.

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