Belle Lane has worked in family law since her admission to legal practice in 1994, practicing as a barrister at the Western Australian and Victorian Bars. She is a qualified Mediator and Arbitrator. She was the Victorian Representative on the board of the Australian Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators (AIFLAM) from 2012 to 2019.

Paediatric gender medicine (also called Gender Affirming Care) is one of the most controversial areas of medicine. In Australia, as in the western world, we have seen a dramatic rise in children and young people identifying as trans and gender diverse. Further, the characteristics of the children seeking PGM has also changed markedly, raising further questions.

Since 2017, when parents can’t agree on whether their child should receive PGM, the decision must be made by the Family Court. Almost all applications to prescribe children puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery have been authorised by the Court. The Court relied upon the evidence of gender affirming clinicians as in almost all the cases there has not been a proper contradictor.

In recent years, the evidence base supporting PGM has been found by multiple international independent systematic reviews to be of low or very low quality. The emergence of detransitioners has also raised questions about PGM.

Since 2022, PGM has been the subject of challenge by parents in the Family Courts. In a 2025 Family Court decision, the central pillars of PGM were heavily scrutinized and the gender clinic at a leading Children’s Hospital and a leading gender clinician were heavily criticised.

Belle Lane barrister has been involved in multiple paediatric gender medicine cases; acting for parents who wish to transition his/her child, and for the parents who oppose it, as well as counsel for the Independent Children’s Lawyer.

In 2023 Belle wrote an extensive paper for the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Judicial Officers and presented it as part of the Judicial Education program. Belle will discuss current issues in PGM and the Family Courts.

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