Australia should immediately ban the use of puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria after a United Kingdom panel of medical experts found they posed an “unacceptable safety risk”.

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson said the Albanese Labor government must no longer ignore the growing evidence of risks to Australian children being treated with puberty blockers.

“It is sickening that Anthony Albanese places more importance on promoting intolerant, hateful gender ideology than he does on children’s safety,” Senator Hanson said.

“The United Kingdom Labour government has been at the forefront with this issue, listening to the clinicians and other experts instead of ideologues and politicians, and banning puberty blockers from anyone under 18 indefinitely after the previous government’s temporary ban.

“This followed a targeted review by the UK’s independent Commission on Human Medicines, which took evidence from clinical experts and patient representatives – including ‘trans’ patients – and concluded these drugs posed an unacceptable safety risk to children.

“Australian governments in the meantime continue to allow children as young as 14 to be prescribed these drugs while in August this year, a Victorian court ordered they be prescribed to a child of 12.

“There must be an immediate ban on the use of these drugs in Australia. There must be a high-level review of the UK commissions’ findings. There must be an inquiry into the real causes of the rapid increase in Australian children presenting with gender dysphoria.

“I’ve tried to refer puberty blockers to a Parliamentary inquiry on five occasions. Each and every time it’s been blocked by Labor, the Greens, cross benchers and some of the Coalition. Why? I strongly suspect they’re blocking it because they know what’s being done to our kids by these gender clinics is indefensible.

“This issue isn’t going away. Those who refuse to face it and refuse to act in the best interests of Australian children will be held accountable in the long run.”