Some of you may be aware, some may not, but currently there is in place a Victorian Education Department “policy” – it is NOT a law in any sense of the word. It is called the “Mature Minors and Decision-Making” policy. According to the Victorian Government’s Policy & Advisory Library website, “The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance (to teachers) on when and how to assess a student as being mature enough to make their own decision about a particular issue.”
Now, on the face of it, that sounds so wonderfully modern, progressive and altruistic. But there is an extremely broad range of “particular issues” covering everything from wanting to wear one’s hair a certain way to life-changing, irreversible gender transition procedures. Schools – Primary and Secondary - are now actively assisting children with gender confusion (I refuse to us the term “gender dysphoria”) to proceed down a pathway to gender transition without the parents’ knowledge – if teachers deem the parents are “unsupportive”. The Victoria Premier was quizzed on this issue yesterday (Wednesday) by journalists from The Australian and The Guardian and she refused to answer very reasonable and basic questions about this policy and, instead, became abusive towards them. The outrage of parents raised by the journalists was scoffed at by the Premier who claimed that kids in such gender confused states are “15 times more likely to commit suicide” - a statistic that is completely false. There is no such evidence - and this was in defence of the policy!
Parents are distressed and there has been a torrent of strong criticism from the nation’s leading medical and legal experts. In fact, one psychiatric expert in gender dysphoria, Dr. Allison Clayton, warned last week that there is “no scientific consensus that social transition improves mental health and well-being outcomes, and clear evidence that it leads many young people toward medical transition, with associated irreversible harms, such as the loss of fertility and sexual function.” There are several critical issues here that the Premier refuses to acknowledge or sensibly discuss.
First, the implementation of the Mature Minors policy is flawed on several levels. Teachers are not given any guidelines as to what an “unsupportive” parent looks like, and they are also told not to inform parents of their child’s desire to change gender without the child’s consent. Decisions are, therefore, completely arbitrary and based on a teacher’s – totally unqualified – assessment which would obviously comprise their own personal preferences and biases. There is no requirement “for staff to document or account for this life-altering decision, nor for them to consult medical practitioners.” So, no records, no accountability.
Life-changing, irreversible outcomes can begin in Primary School with parents having no say at all. If parents are involved and are deemed to be “unsupportive” by teachers, according to The Victorian Department of Education website, “If no agreement can be reached between the student and the parent/s regarding the student’s gender identity, or if the parent/s will not consent to the contents of a student support plan, it will be necessary for the school to consider whether the student is a mature minor.” The website’s section on “LGBTIQA+ Student Support” states: “If a student is considered a mature minor they can make decisions for themselves without parental consent and should be affirmed in their gender identity at school without a family representative/carer participating in formulating the school management plan.”
Here is another major issue. There is no formal, legal process by which a child can be declared a mature minor, and no independent expert input is required – it is all based on the unqualified opinions and assessments of teachers and school staff. This is wrong and unethical in so many ways, as well as having no legal standing in any court.
Dr. Clayton, who has published many peer-reviewed papers on gender dysphoria, also said last week that social transition was “often the first intervention of the gender-affirmative treatment pathway.” And this is exactly what the Mature Minors policy is encouraging. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that the vast majority of Mature Minors decision-making concerns gender transition. Dr. Clayton, cited in The Australian on Oct. 13th, noted that despite social transition for children and adolescents being promoted in The Royal Children’s Hospital’s guidelines as being of benefit, there was “no international evidential or clinical consensus that social transition improves mental health and wellbeing outcomes”. None. No evidence. So what does this all boil down to?
In my view we have a state government captured by the LGBTIQA+ lobby and woke ideologies. Remember, the Mature Minors policy is just that – a policy – it is not law. The government has not dared to bring this to legislation. The rights of children sometimes going through a confusing adolescent phase are being hijacked. Parental rights are being removed arbitrarily by teachers with the support of government, and when it all goes horribly wrong – and there are many documented cases in Britain of children regretting their gender transition who are now angry and distressed – parents are expected to pick up the pieces. Parents are being alienated by state decree.
The Parents of Adolescents with Gender Distress group (PAGD), which represents more than 50 parents of children who have sought to change their gender, said last week, that schools were enacting mature minor consent to enable social transition “indiscriminately”. It’s hard not to think that this is a clear agenda pursued by schools captured by woke ideology. A PAGD spokesperson stated last week: “When a young person wants to be known as a different name, different gender, in our experience that is accepted at face value, and the concept of mature minor just seems to be applied straight away.”
I highlight this issue – it is one of many in our nation today – because it is another result of activists who have captured the ideological high ground and who have managed to influence and intimidate governments into compliance. The very concept of a “mature minor” is an absolute deception. On the one hand we have a government abusing media for questioning the Mature Minor policy, and in the next breath are pushing to increase the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years, because at that age child cannot know right from wrong – but they know what’s best for them in terms of irreversible gender transition. You see what’s happening, right? We need to discern the spirits, as scripture says …
This is rampant evil and Christians need to speak up and advocate for our kids and parents before this social cancer spreads any further. Write to your local state MPs, call them, demand a reversal of such damaging policies.
1 John 4:1 (NLT)
“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.”
The Mature Minors policy, is not from God! Pray with me that this evil will be restrained.
Ps Milton
[Sources: Articles in: The Australian (Oct 13th, 2025); The Australian (Oct. 16th, 2025); The Victorian Government Policy & Advisory Library website (Schools Operations) key source; Gender Clinic News website; Genspect website article: “Clinician asks: Is the gender-affirmative model dangerous?”; Springer Link website: article by Dr Clayton, “The Gender Affirmative Treatment Model for Youth with Gender Dysphoria: A Medical Advance or Dangerous Medicine?”]