![Chief Minister Andrew Barr. Picture by Elesa Kurtz Chief Minister Andrew Barr. Picture by Elesa Kurtz](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/35sFyBanpD896MKnAH5FRtj/7805d8a5-13ad-49ff-89da-4f4143d8728f.jpg/r0_247_3830_2400_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Deferrable medical interventions for intersex children will be banned in the ACT until a person can consent to the procedure, under nation-first laws to be introduced by the territory government next month.
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The government will also establish a variations in sex characteristics unit at the Canberra Hospital and provide training packages for health professionals.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced the laws would be introduced to the Legislative Assembly while speaking on a panel at a human rights conference at Sydney World Pride on Wednesday.
Mr Barr said having a child with a variation in sex characteristics could be complex for families to navigate.
"Some treatments recommended for intersex children are critical to prevent disease but others can potentially be done to make babies develop in a more typically male or female way and these can be deferred," Mr Barr said.
"These treatments can have significant implications for the individual. Intersex people have long called for these particular treatments to be deferred until the person is old enough to be able to decide for themselves."
People who are intersex are born with sex characteristics which do not fit usual binary definitions of male or female bodies, and experts estimate up to 1.7 per cent of the population are born with intersex characteristics, the United Nations has said.
Mr Barr said the new ACT laws would make it easier for families to make decisions, protect the rights of children and still allow urgent medical procedures to proceed.
"It won't affect urgent medical treatments - the focus is on treatments which can be deferred without medical risk, and allowing children to be as involved as possible in the treatments they receive," he said.
The laws would also regulate medical interventions for intersex people with impaired decision making capability.
The laws would be reviewed after two years in operation because, Mr Barr said, refinements to the nation-first changes would likely be needed.
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Mr Barr, Australia's first openly gay government leader, told the panel the ACT had a long history of being at the forefront of LGBTIQ+ equality and human rights law in Australia, leading recognition of same-sex domestic relationships in the 1990s and introducing civil unions in the 2000s.
"We have updated our laws to remove direct discrimination for couples looking to start a family and introduced protections from discrimination for intersex people," he said.
The Chief Minister pointed to a ban of sexuality conversion practices and a law review to determine where LGBTIQ+ people continued to face discrimination in the ACT.
"This includes ensuring that all people have equal legal status and recognition under ACT laws and can enjoy their full human rights - regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or sex characteristics," he said.
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