Relationships with stakeholders and gender affirming care

Question

1. Can Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency confirm any formal and informal relationships it maintains with ACON and its programs, including Pride in Diversity? 2. Is AHPRA currently a member of Pride in Diversity or participating in the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI)? If so, since when, and at what cost to taxpayers? 3. What due diligence was undertaken before entering into these relationships, particularly given ACON's explicit advocacy role on gender identity policy? 4. Does AHPRA have a procedure to manage actual or perceived conflicts of interest in its regulatory functions? If so, please advise. 5. Has AHPRA received any advice on whether alignment with advocacy organisations risks regulatory capture or bias? 6. How does AHPRA reconcile its statutory obligation to act as an independent regulator with participation in programs designed to influence institutional behaviour toward "progressive inclusion strategies"? 7. Are there governance controls in place to ensure that policy positions promoted by ACON or Pride in Diversity do not influence AHPRA's regulatory actions? 8. Has this issue ever been escalated to the AHPRA Board? Please advise of any actions or outcomes. 9. Can AHPRA provide a list of all external stakeholder groups consulted on gender dysphoria policy in the past five years? 10. How many of those groups represent gender-critical clinicians or same-sex attracted people as opposed to advocacy organisations aligned with gender identity ideology? 11. Has AHPRA engaged with groups such as lesbian or gay advocacy organisations that hold dissenting views? If not, why? 12. Please provide a list of all advocacy groups that AHPRA has consulted with re: gender dysphoria in the past 5 years. 13. To what extent have ACON or Pride in Diversity materials, training, or frameworks informed AHPRA guidance on gender dysphoria? 14. Has AHPRA adopted terminology, frameworks, or assumptions originating from these organisations in its regulatory communications or guidance? 15. Can AHPRA confirm whether staff are trained using external materials that promote a single model of care (i.e. gender-affirming approach)? 16. What safeguards exist to ensure that diverse clinical perspectives are not marginalised or dismissed? 17. Do clinicians who raising concerns about gender-affirming care face professional risk or regulatory scrutiny? 18. Has AHPRA investigated whether its processes are limiting clinical debate in this area? 19. Can AHPRA confirm whether any practitioners have been subject to investigation or complaint processes after expressing evidence-based concerns about gender dysphoria treatment? If so, how many? 20. What steps has AHPRA taken to ensure that clinicians can exercise independent clinical judgment without undue pressure? 21. Are clinicians free to exercise religious or conscious objection to providing gender affirming care? 22. Does AHRA consult with equivalent international regulatory bodies? If so, please provide dates of meeting full details of meetings with costings. 23. What is AHPRA's position on the emerging international shift toward more cautious models of care (e.g. in the UK, Sweden, Finland)? 24. Has AHPRA reviewed these developments? Are there any plans to amend Australian practice? 25. Is there any evidence that an overreliance on a single model of care may expose vulnerable patients, particularly young people, to harm? 26. Does AHPRA accept that public confidence in the regulator depends on it being demonstrably independent from advocacy bodies?

Answer

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Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• Ahpra-2026.010.pdf (opens in a new tab)