A judge has addressed the reaction to a high-profile court case about transgender treatment, urging people not to interpret specific decisions as sweeping political commentaries on the rights and wrongs of gender-affirming care.

Back in April, Justice Andrew Strum stripped a mother of custody of her 11-year-old because she wanted the child to be prescribed puberty blockers.

Justice Strum described the treatment as a “potentially life-altering and damaging medical intervention for which there may not be a proper underlying basis”.

Opponents of gender-affirming care celebrated the ruling and the later revelation that prominent paediatrician Associate Professor Michelle Telfer, who had supported the mother’s position as an expert witness, had been accused of misleading the court.