Compared with the usual calm of public policy debates, the Cass Review represents a political and medical firestorm.

Its findings led UK health services to ban puberty blockers for routine use in those under 18 with gender dysphoria — a ban which in my view should also be adopted in Australia, to protect vulnerable children from harm.

The heart of the review was an evaluation of all available research which found no strong evidence that puberty blockers improved the health or mental health of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria.

There has been fierce backlash to Cass in the UK and elsewhere, with the British Medical Association asking for the blocker ban to be reversed; and resistance to the backlash, with nearly 900 doctors expressing dismay at the BMA’s action.