Senator Pauline Hanson has thrown her support behind Victorian parents outraged by Premier Jacinta Allan’s dismissal of their concerns over gender identity education, calling the state’s approach “disgraceful” and “government overreach.”

Her comments come after more than 50 families from the group Parents of Adolescents with Gender Distress (PAGD) wrote to the Premier requesting a meeting to discuss the harm they say the Respectful Relationships curriculum is causing their children. The group accused Allan of making “alarmist and irresponsible” claims—particularly her assertion that transgender children are 15 times more likely to commit suicide—without credible data to back it.

“The activists pushing gender ideology onto our children are creating long-term psychosocial damage,” Senator Hanson said. “This is not about inclusion—it’s about the state taking over control of children’s bodies and minds, stripping parents of their rights and authority. It’s outrageous and it must stop.”

Senator Hanson has raised the alarm over the rapid medicalisation of children in Australia six times in the Senate, pushing for a parliamentary inquiry into gender ideology. Each motion was rejected by Labor, the Greens, and the Coalition. She now warns of a looming wave of psychological and physical injury claims from young people who were led down irreversible paths they later regret.

“This isn’t compassion—it’s exploitation. Parents have always been, and must remain, the ones with their children’s best interests at heart,” she said.

The Australian previously revealed that the updated Victorian curriculum includes teaching five-year-olds that their body parts may not match their gender, and allows biological males identifying as female to play in girls’ sports. PAGD has voiced concern that such content is fostering what it calls a “school to gender clinic pipeline,” whereby vulnerable adolescents are being led toward medical interventions without proper oversight or psychological care.

In their letter, PAGD disputed Premier Allan’s suicide claim, noting that no reliable national data supports such a dramatic figure. They referenced the UK’s Tavistock Clinic data and the Hilary Cass Review, which both found no clear evidence that gender-affirming treatments reduce suicide risk.

Senator Hanson said the Victorian Government is choosing ideology over evidence, pushing ahead with radical policies without engaging with concerned parents or frontline experts.

“I stand with these families, and I call on the Premier to stop ignoring their voices. They deserve to be heard, and they deserve the truth,” she said.

By Rachel Baxendale, Victorian Political Reporter, writing for The Australian