Referrals to Victorian gender clinics jumped from 300 in 2019 to 450 in 2020. Children as young as three are being referred for treatment at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

A study of 359 patients from the hospital’s gender service from 2007 to 2016 show just over half were females who presented at an average age of 14. The others were males who came in at an average age of 12.

One Australian study found 2.3 per cent of Australian students in years 10 to 12 identified as transgender or gender diverse.

The current study, led by Dr Michelle Tollit, found 29 per cent of patients over 10 years old received puberty blockers and 38 per cent of teens were given gender-affirming hormones. More than 90 per cent were transgender or non-binary.

Alarmingly, these medical professionals are including very young children in their experimental treatments.

Co-author Associate Professor Ken Pang from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute said some concerned parents brought children in from the age of three.

“Children this young might be saying things like, ‘I’m not a boy, I’m a girl,’” he said.

“Their parents seek assistance in how to navigate this.

“The earlier we can help people, the more improved their later lives are likely to be.”

There is no long-term data from studies to support this, as most academics and researchers have been cancelled or cannot receive funding. At this stage, all evidence points to the fact that children who are left to go through puberty without puberty blockers or hormones will accept their biological sex as adults.

Binary spokeswoman, Kirralie Smith, said it is unacceptable to experiment on these children.

“Three-year-old children have a hard time distinguishing between reality and fantasy,” she said.

“They play and make-believe, it is a normal stage of development. How on earth did we reach a stage in society where we are even considering drastic intervention in a child’s natural development?”

“This is tantamount to child abuse.”