Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has engaged in “dirty tactics”, citing heavily disputed claims transgender youth are 15 times more likely to commit suicide, and using as a reason to march for Pride.

Allan reposted the clip from October where she was questioned by The Australian. She evaded the question with smug huffing and puffing, and refused to discuss the false claim that is not supported by the data.

The reposted clip prominently features Ms Allan incorrectly citing the elevated rate of suicide among transgender youth, where she conflates the rate of suicide attempts with fatal suicide. “On this matter … (it) is particularly important we come to these discussions in a responsible way, because we know transgender kids are 15 times more likely to commit suicide,” she said.

In the hours after the press conference in October, a government spokesperson rushed to clarify that transgender young people “are 15 times more likely to attempt suicide” than the general population, rather than “commit suicide”.

This clarification was not appended to the reposted video.

The statistic was initially sourced from advocacy group LGBTIQ+ Health Australia and has been disputed by other reputable sources.

Parents have been repeatedly gaslit by so-called health professionals with the question, “would you rather a live son or a dead daughter”. The data simply does not support the claim, in fact, other studies show suicide rates increase after “affirmation” treatments. This is likely because young people come to realise they did not in fact change sex, cannot pass as the opposite sex, and are facing a life-time of medical consumerism to try and deal with the irreversible, harmful side effects of the treatments. 

A spokesperson for advocacy group Parents of Adolescents with Gender Distress said it was “unconscionable that the Premier continues to promulgate false and misleading statistics about suicide in an effort to coerce parents into following a discredited treatment model”.

“It just feels totally manipulative,” she said. “It makes many of our parents really angry, too. Too many of them have heard the ‘do you want a live son or a dead daughter’ manipulation from supposed health professionals. It just doesn’t wash anymore.”

University of Queensland family law expert Patrick Parkinson questioned the “refusal to acknowledge” either the substance of the question at the time, or the misquoted statistic Ms Allan repeated.

“The longer that senior politicians engage in myths about the issues … the more damage will be done, not only to those young people but also to the reputation of the government and the health service,” he said.

Child psychiatrist and gender care whistleblower Jillian Spencer called the invocation of youth suicide a “dirty tactic”.

“Ms Allan used a false suicide statistic to pressure the journalist to stop asking questions,” she said. “It’s shocking to see political leaders using dirty tactics to shut down discussion of this important issue.

“Ms Allan’s reposting of the exchange is also concerning because it suggests she hasn’t realised that her responses were grossly inappropriate.”

Political leaders must be held to account. They are not medical practitioners and must not be allowed to cause irreversible harm to young people by insisting their man made laws trump the laws of nature.