Coroner calls for urgent investment into health care for trans community, following five tragic deaths
A Victorian coroner who investigated the suicides of five young transgender women has recommended urgent investment to improve healthcare for trans and gender-diverse people. At an inquest into the disappearance of a Melbourne transgender woman, the coroner found police made several mistakes during their investigation and that the public health system needs to do more to respond to the community’s most vulnerable members.
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00:00When Bridget Flack was reported missing four years ago, her loved ones feared the worst.
00:07But police didn't conduct a thorough search, leaving hundreds of LGBT community members
00:12to look for Bridget themselves.
00:16They made the grim discovery 11 days later.
00:19Not only did we live through the pain of Bridget desperately seeking help, then being missing,
00:24and then finding her, but we've relived it multiple more times in the nearly four years
00:28that have now passed.
00:29Today a coroner found Bridget's case highlighted a bigger problem, that there's a lack of support
00:34for the transgender community, and police and health officials need to do more.
00:39In 2024, it is not okay that there is a wrong door for anyone who's in distress or needing
00:45medical care.
00:47The coroner also looked into the suicides of four other transgender women, including
00:51Matt Byrne and Heather Perard.
00:54The inquest heard several had tried in vain to access medical and mental health treatment
00:59before their deaths.
01:01Coroner Ingrid Giles said the public health system struggles to be responsive to the basic
01:05needs of some of its most vulnerable community members.
01:08The coroner called on the government to provide more funding for transgender health services.
01:13She also recommended Victoria Police provide mandatory training for all members and update
01:19its IT systems so information about transgender people can be recorded.
01:24The coroner's findings are both deep and specific and accommodate some of the cultural
01:31nuance that we've been calling for for a very long time.
01:35The findings were thorough and clear and directed at the right people who can make that change
01:40if they choose to.
01:41The state government and Victoria Police say they'll now review the recommendations.
01:46The government says it's committed to supporting trans and gender diverse Victorians.