People with innate variations in sex characteristics, sometimes referred to as 'intersex', are born with sex characteristics that do not fit typical definitions or understandings of male or female bodies. This can include a person's physical traits (such as reproductive organs), chromosomes, or hormones, and can become evident prior to or at birth, at puberty, or later in life.
Biological variations are natural and occur in up to 1.7% of all births.
Being born with a variation in sex characteristics is different from being trans or gender diverse. A variation in sex characteristics is something a person is born with. Being trans or gender diverse is a matter of how someone feels about their gender identity relative to the sex they were assigned at birth.
While some treatments for people born with variations in sex characteristics are medically necessary, some people experience lasting consequences, harm, or trauma related to deferrable treatment provided early in life. It is important that children, families, and clinicians are supported by safeguards, oversight, and reporting processes to ensure the best possible outcomes.
Legislative reform
The Victorian Government is strengthening protections for people born with variations in sex characteristics though the Health Safeguards for People Born with Variations in Sex Characteristics Act 2026 (the Act).
This delivers on commitments outlined in (i) Am Equal : Future Directions for Victoria’s Intersex Community and Pride in our future: Victoria's LGBTIQA+ strategy 2022-32.
The Act was passed in February 2026 and will be implemented gradually over several years. It establishes new informed consent safeguards, oversight, and reporting processes to better support people born with variations in sex characteristics and their families to make decisions about their healthcare.
What will the legislation do?
The legislation will empower people born with variations in sex characteristics and their families to understand and explore treatment options. It will provide doctors with clearer guidelines and protections from some decision-making risks.
It will do so through 3 key features:
- New informed consent safeguards
These safeguards will outline consistent criteria for doctors to use when seeking and obtaining informed consent.
They will ensure that a person who cannot give informed consent, usually because they are a child, will be supported to contribute to decisions being made about their body. Parents (or other medical treatment decision makers) will also be provided with additional information and support, including access to peer, family, and mental health supports.
- The establishment of an independent, expert oversight panel
A new panel will oversee and approve treatments that make permanent changes to a person’s body, when they cannot give informed consent.
The panel will have members from many areas of expertise, including specialist medical care, mental health, and lived experience.
The panel will approve treatments through:
- general treatment plans, which will apply to multiple people with the same variation and similar circumstances. If there is a pre-approved general treatment plan, a doctor will be able to provide that treatment without further approval.
- individual treatment plans, which will apply to one person and be submitted to the panel by doctors on a case-by-case basis.
There will be no change regarding urgent treatment that is required to save a person's life or prevent significant pain or damage to their health. Urgent treatments will be able to proceed without additional oversight or delay.
- Improved reporting requirements
The legislation will support improved knowledge about care needs and health outcomes by requiring health services to provide reports to the oversight panel every year. These reports will be de-identified and limited to essential information.
When will the legislation take effect?
The legislation will be implemented gradually over 3 years so that people with variations, their families, and doctors can contribute their expertise and experience throughout implementation.
What will the legislation mean for people born with variations in sex characteristics?
Once the legislation commences, it will ensure that the most vulnerable, particularly infants and young children, do not receive deferrable medical treatments that permanently change their bodies. These treatments will only occur when they are old enough to give informed consent.
It will mean that people with variations have greater agency over their bodies. It allows more opportunity to give informed consent to the care and treatment they receive, and to contribute to and understand decisions before they can give informed consent.
What the legislation means for parents
The legislation recognises the unique and profoundly important role of parents. It will support them to make medical decisions for their child about treatments that can have significant, long-term consequences.
Historically, parents of children with variations in sex characteristics have had limited access to information or support when making significant decisions about their child's care.
Once the legislation commences, parents will receive more information and support so they are better placed to give informed consent on behalf of their child.
The additional level of oversight and approval will also reassure parents that permanent or difficult to reverse treatments are necessary and being provided in line with best practice.
What the legislation mean for doctors providing care to people born with variations in sex characteristics
The legislation and accompanying regulations and supports will assist doctors to provide best practice care to people with variations and their families. It will ensure doctors:
- are protected from some decision-making risks through independent oversight
- play a key role in developing individual and pre-approved general treatment plans, ensuring care is consistently provided in line with best practice evidence
- are supported to understand the legislation and their roles and responsibilities through resources and guidance
- contribute to improvements in data collection to provide better visibility of variations and procedures.
Who has been consulted on the proposed changes?
The Victorian Government undertook broad consultation from 2021, engaging with:
- people born with variations in sex characteristics and their families
- specialist health practitioners and service providers
- health sector peak bodies and professional groups
- experts in law, regulations, and human rights
- Victorian Government advisory groups.
More information about the consultation that informed design of the legislation can be found on Engage Victoria, see Victoria's intersex protection system.
Consultation with people with lived experience, families, and doctors will continue throughout implementation.
Next steps
The Act was passed in February 2026.
It will be implemented gradually over several years, which will allow time to develop resources and guidance so that people born with variations in sex characteristics and the health services that support them understand the changes.
There will be various components to implementation, including:
- development of complementary improvements to care and support
- establishment of the oversight panel
- development of pre-approved general treatment plans
- development of regulations
- training and education.
People with variations, their families, and doctors will continue to be consulted throughout this process.
Further information on implementation activities and timelines will be available later in 2026.
Updated