Suspended child psychiatrist who raised puberty blocker concerns must be reinstated

A union has called for Health Minister Tim Nicholls to be dismissed if he fails to reinstate suspended child psychiatrist Jillian Spencer. HAVE YOUR SAY

Dr Jillian Spencer. Pic: Lyndon Mechielsen

The Red Union group has called on Premier David Crisafulli to dismiss Health Minister Tim Nicholls if he fails to reinstate suspended child psychiatrist Jillian Spencer.

In a message to their 23,000 members, four Red Union leaders say it would be a miscarriage of justice to sack Dr Spencer for speaking out about the dangers of puberty blockers and sex change hormones being dispensed without hospital ethics committee approvals.

One message to members carried the headline: “The Minister Must Step Up or Step Down.”

“This is about protecting children through ensuring ethical evidence-based care,” said nurse Kara Thomas, president of the Nurses’ Professional Association of Australia.

“We commend Premier David Crisafulli and Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie for their willingness to listen. But Minister Nicholls has rebuffed every reasonable approach.

“We say this clearly: The Minister must step up and reinstate Dr Spencer, or he must step down.”

Thomas accused Queensland Health of “institutional cowardice” for leaving Spencer in limbo for more than a year.

Dr Spencer was issued with a series of show cause notices by Queensland Health for breaching the public service code of conduct for airing her concerns publicly on Sky News and for speaking at a gender forum at the NSW Parliament.

She is seeking official whistleblower status in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

Thomas received the backing of Dr Duncan Syme, the President of the Australian Medical Professionals’ Society, AMPS, of which Dr Spencer is a member.

“We are deeply disturbed by reports of transgender flags displayed in acute adolescent wards,” Dr Syme wrote.

“Queensland’s public hospitals must be safe, neutral, evidence-based spaces for care, not activist playgrounds shaped by ideological pressure.”

Red Union chairman Graeme Haycroft and the independent unions’ managing director Jack McGuire released videos in support of Dr Spencer.

The saga has become a vexing issue for the premier and I’m afraid it is not going away.

Several of the LNP’s elder statesmen, including Haycroft, believe Spencer was bullied out of her job by transgender activists.

Haycroft said Nicholls was burying his head in the sand.

“Tim is out of touch with community feeling, out of touch with his own party and out of touch with the science,” he said.

Originally published as Suspended child psychiatrist who raised puberty blocker concerns must be reinstated