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Gender affirming surgery

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What is gender affirming surgery?

Gender affirming surgery refers to a variety of procedures that some trans or gender diverse people may use to affirm their gender.

Surgery is just one option for gender affirming care. All trans and gender diverse people are unique and will choose to affirm their gender in a way that feels right for them.

Gender affirming care might include:

  • Social affirmation, such as changing names, pronouns, hair or clothing.
  • Legal affirmation, such as changing legal name or gender.
  • Medical affirmation, with hormones or surgery.

Read more about gender incongruence, gender dysphoria , and gender affirming care here.

This article talks more about gender affirming surgery.

What happens during gender affirming surgery?

There are many different gender affirming surgeries and procedures. They may include making changes to your face, chest, genitals, or other body parts.

For people assumed male at birth, feminising surgeries may include:

  • Breast augmentation with insertion of breast implants.
  • Facial feminisation — changing the shape of any or all facial features.
  • Vocal surgery — shortening the vocal cords for a higher, more feminine voice.
  • Tracheal shave — reducing the size of the ‘Adam’s apple’.
  • Fillers or liposuction, to achieve a more typically feminine shape.
  • Orchiectomy, or removal of testicles.
  • Bottom surgery or ‘genital reconfiguration surgery’, involving changes to the genitals.

Bottom surgery is called ‘genital reconfiguration surgery’. This was previously known as ‘sex reassignment surgery’ or ‘gender confirmation surgery’. The name change shows that your genitals don’t define your sex or gender.

Feminising bottom surgery may involve a combination of the following procedures:

  • Removing the testicles (orchiectomy).
  • Removing and reshaping tissue from the penis to make a vulva. This includes external labia or lips, and a clitoris. This is known as vulvoplasty.
  • Shortening the urethra (tube that you urinate — wee — from).
  • Creation of a vaginal canal (vaginoplasty). This is a complicated step which some people choose to skip. After surgery, vaginal dilators will need to be used to maintain the shape of the vaginal canal.

For people assumed female at birth, masculinising surgeries may include:

  • Top surgery, with reduction or removal of breast tissue (mastectomy). This creates a flatter or more neutral chest. There are many different techniques used to achieve this.
  • Liposuction to achieve a more typically masculine shape.
  • Hysterectomy , or removal of the uterus (womb) and ovaries.
  • Bottom surgery or genital reconfiguration surgery. This involves changes to the genitals.

Masculinising bottom surgery may involve a combination of the following procedures:

  • Hysterectomy, if not already performed.
  • Vaginectomy, or removal of the vagina.
  • Creation of a penis, which may include metoidioplasty or phalloplasty.
  • Metoidioplasty involves making a penis shape wrapping tissue around the clitoris after it is enlarged by testosterone hormone therapy.
  • Phalloplasty involves making a larger penis with tissue from the arm, thigh, back, or abdomen. This involves lengthening the urethra to be able to urinate from the tip of the new penis. An inflatable penile implant may be inserted inside the penis to allow an erection.

Is gender affirming surgery right for me?

Choosing to undergo any surgery is a big decision. Everyone affirms their gender in different ways, and that may or may not include surgery.

Surgery is permanent so you need to make sure it’s the right choice for you. Surgery doesn’t make you more or less trans.

Before being able to access gender affirming surgery, you need to meet the criteria below:

  • A history of gender incongruence (for 6 months or more).
  • The ability to make a fully informed decision.
  • Be over the age of 16 for top surgery, or 18 for bottom surgery. Some surgeons will provide surgery to younger people in very specific situations.
  • Ensure that any physical or mental health conditions are well managed.

You will need letters of support from a mental health professional before having gender affirming surgery.

For top surgery, one letter is required. For bottom surgery two letters are required. For bottom surgery, you are also required to have ‘lived as your current gender’ for 12 months, meaning you have socially transitioned. The letter needs to state that surgery is appropriate for you and is likely to help affirm your gender and reduce any gender dysphoria that may be present.

If you are taking gender affirming hormones, or want to take hormones in the future, you should do this for 12 months before having surgery. This is to allow any significant body changes to occur before surgery.

Most people who have surgery are happy with their results and feel more comfortable in their bodies. But some people are disappointed with the results, or find that any gender dysphoria that was present is not fully resolved. Make sure you discuss any difficult feelings with your doctor or psychologist.

What questions should I ask before surgery?

It’s important to talk about the pros and cons of surgery in detail with your doctor. It’s a good idea to ask to see pictures of how other people look after surgery.

Questions to ask your surgeon include:

  • What different surgical techniques are there?
  • What are the pros and cons of each technique for me?
  • What results can I expect?
  • What are the possible risks and complications?

For help in having the discussion, visit healthdirect’s Question Builder .

What should I expect after surgery?

Surgical recovery can be long and uncomfortable. Your surgeon will be able to give you more information on what can be expected before, during, and after surgery. This might include spending time in hospital afterwards, any special dressings, surgical garments, or follow up care.

Make sure you do everything your doctor tells you and go to all follow-up appointments. This will help you get the best results from your surgery.

Having surgery is a big deal. Even if you’ve been looking forward to it and are happy with the result, it can still be quite confronting. It might take some time to get used to your new body.

Talk to your doctor if you are feeling any distress following surgery.

How much will gender affirming surgery cost me?

Gender affirming surgery can be very expensive. It can cost between $20,000 to more than $100,000, depending on which procedures you need.

Your surgeon will be able to tell you how much surgery will cost. The cost may include specialist visits before and after surgery, surgeon and anaesthetist fees, hospital and theatre costs, and any other products or services necessary.

Some costs may be covered by Medicare, such as specialist consults if you have a referral from your doctor. Unfortunately, most gender affirming surgery in Australia is done privately, meaning there will be large out-of-pocket costs.

You should ask your surgeon what Medicare item numbers they use. You can check the Medicare rebate at MBS Online .

Some private health insurance will also help with gender affirming surgery. If you have health insurance, it’s important to check with your health fund first about your level of cover. There is a range of health insurance comparison sites available online, such as privatehealth.gov.au .

Legal matters

Changing your gender on your passport, licence, Medicare card or birth certificate all require separate processes. These vary between states and territories. In some states and territories, you must have undergone specific types of gender affirmation surgery to change the gender marker on your birth certificate.

You can find out more about the specific processes at TransHub .

You are legally protected by the Sex Discrimination Act from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status. Visit the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department for more details.

Where can I get more information on gender affirming surgery?

  • TransHub has information about gender affirming surgery.
  • The Gender Centre (NSW) provides resources and support.
  • Transgender Victoria has resources and links to other services.
  • The Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH) lists some providers.

Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content .

Last reviewed: June 2022

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Coonan at his home in Brisbane.

Anguish gives way to relief as Queensland allows trans people to change birth certificates

NSW urged to follow rest of Australia to permit trans people to update their documentation without requiring surgery

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W hen Coonan enrolled his first-born son into a Brisbane daycare in late 2019, he asked they disregard the birth certificate and refer to him as the boy’s dad. Despite his legal efforts to have it changed, the document still listed Coonan as his mother.

“I had to submit myself to their generosity as to whether they were going to accept my identity as I presented it, or if they were going to insist that they had to be consistent with the government,” Coonan, who did not want his full name published, said.

“I felt really humiliated and small.”

But the era in which the identity of trans and gender-diverse people such as Coonan were at odds with the Queensland government came to an end on Wednesday evening, with the passing of reforms to how parents are listed and their sex identified on birth certificates.

The new laws allow for one or two mothers to be listed on a child’s birth certificate, or one or two fathers – or for them simply to be listed as “parents”. They will also enable trans and gender-diverse Queenslanders to change the sex listed on their own birth certificate without – as was previously required – the need for sexual reassignment surgery.

Coonan transitioned from identifying as a woman to a man at the age of 26 and went on to deliver three boys using a known sperm donor.

Trans man Coonan and his children are photographed at their home in Brisbane

He had already changed the sex on his own New South Wales birth certificate and his passport, after undergoing chest reconstruction surgery and taking hormones.

But after the birth of his first son in February 2019, a Queensland midwife apologised as Coonan had to be listed as a mother on the birth certificate.

Now, the repercussions of the new law will be felt beyond the borders of the sunshine state.

Western Australia is also committed to joining every state and territory in Australia – bar one – by reforming its laws that require people undergo surgery before changing the sex on their birth certificate.

New South Wales is the only other state or territory in Australia where the requirement still exists.

Sexual reassignment surgery is a costly procedure that involves a number of health risks and is not readily available in Australia.

Alastair Lawrie, policy and advocacy director at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, said this was one of “a wide range of LGBTIQ law reform issues” upon which NSW would soon become “an outlier”.

“NSW currently requires trans people to undergo genital surgery in order to access a new birth certificate, something many do not want and many of those who do cannot afford,” Lawrie said.

“There’s a need for reform on birth certificates, there’s a need for reform on anti-discrimination law, there’s a need for reform on intersex surgeries, there’s a need for reform on conversion practices. In all of those areas NSW is behind most other jurisdictions,” Lawrie said.

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Queensland’s attorney general, Yvette D’Ath, said the state’s laws were a win for the LGBTQ+ community, allowing trans and gender-diverse people to self-identify.

“This bill will help reduce the distress, fear, discrimination and privacy violations that many people in our communities face on an all-too-frequent basis,” she said.

But they did not receive unanimous support. The Liberal National party opposition, along with Katter’s Australian party and the independent MP Sandy Bolton, voted against the bill.

The debate became heated.

D’Ath criticised comments made by the LNP’s deputy leader, Jarrod Bleijie, and others, saying they had “caused harm and hurt” to people listening in the public gallery and apologised to the LGBTQ+ community on their behalf.

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Trans man Coonan and his children at home in Brisbane.

The comments came after Bleijie, interjecting during a speech by the Labor MP Chris Whiting, said: “Feminine identity? It’s blokes in a dress.”

Bleijie later contributed to the debate, labelling the bill “an attack on women”.

The LNP MP Amanda Camm also opposed the laws, claiming “a trans woman is … not a woman”.

The youth justice minister, Di Farmer, also apologised to the LGBTQ+ people sitting in the gallery for the nature of the debate.

The Greens supported the bill despite a failed amendment, moved by the party on Wednesday, to scrap fees for people accessing and updating their documents.

The Greens MP for Maiwar, Michael Berkman, said a lack of accurate documentation “prevents people from enrolling in school, getting a driving licence, getting a job, opening a bank account and applying for housing”.

Similar reforms in the UK have generated fierce controversy, but the Green’s federal LGBTQ+ spokesperson, Stephen Bates, said “things are different” in Australia.

He said similar reforms in every other state and territory except NSW had been well received by the general community.

“I think it is just a matter of time, honestly, before NSW follows the rest of the states and territories,” the Brisbane MP said. “It’s a pleasant inevitability.”

For Coonan, the polarised debate in Queensland parliament would be all too familiar. From the moment he came out, Coonan said “everyone had an opinion” about his gender.

So on the passing of the bill, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

“It is the end of something that has caused lots of people grief,” Coonan said.

“It feels good – but also feels like something we shouldn’t have had to go through.”

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. You can also get in touch with QLife , which provides national peer support and referral services for LGBTQ+ people of all ages and can be contacted on 1300 555 727, 3pm-midnight.

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LGBTIQA+ Changing Gender

To legally change your gender in WA, you must apply to the Gender Reassignment Board (the Board) for a gender recognition certificate. Before you can apply to the Board, you will need to have undergone a ‘reassignment procedure’ and meet other eligibility criteria. The eligibility criteria differ depending on whether you are an adult or are under 18, and are explained below.

This page has information that may help you if you are gender diverse and want to know how to legally change your gender in Western Australia or have questions about your health rights.

Are there laws about legally changing your gender in WA?

Yes. The Gender Reassignment Act 2000 (WA) sets out how you can legally change your gender in WA. Legally changing your gender means:

  • you will be officially recognised as your reassigned gender in all matters in Western Australia,
  • you will be protected against discrimination on the basis of your gender history under state (WA) discrimination law, and
  • you can ask the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for a Birth Certificate recognising your reassigned gender.

What is a ‘reassignment procedure’?

The High Court of Australia has previously said that a person does not need to surgically change all of their gender characteristics to be recognised as having had a ‘reassignment procedure’. However, they must have altered their gender characteristics sufficiently through either a medical or surgical procedure so that they can be socially identified as their preferred gender. It is important to get legal advice, as what is legally considered a ‘reassignment procedure’ is complex and may be decided by the exact circumstances of your situation.

Eligibility to apply if you are an adult

If you are 18 or older, you can apply directly to the Board for a gender recognition certificate. To be able to apply, you must have undergone a ‘reassignment procedure’ and :

  • your ‘reassignment procedure’ was carried out in WA
  • you were born in WA, or
  • you live in WA and have lived in WA for at least 12 months.

To be successful with your application, the Board will then need to be satisfied of all three of the following criteria:

  • you believe your true gender is the gender to which you have been reassigned
  • you have adopted the lifestyle and the gender characteristics of a person of the gender to which you have been reassigned, and
  • you have received proper counselling about your gender identity.

Eligibility to apply if you are under 18

If you are under 18 years old, you cannot apply directly to the Board for a gender recognition certificate. Your parents or guardians must make the application for you and there are strict rules about this. You might need to get legal advice if your parents or guardians are unwilling (or unable) to make the application for you.

For your parents or guardians to be able to apply, you must have undergone a ‘reassignment procedure’ and :

To be successful with the application, the Board must then be satisfied that it is in your best interests for a gender recognition certificate to be issued.

What information needs to be given with an application? 

To apply for a gender recognition certificate, you will need to pay the application fee (currently $40) and provide the following documents to the Board:

  • a completed application form (available from the Board's website)
  • a letter from the medical practitioner who performed or supervised your ‘reassignment procedure’,
  • a letter from any other medical practitioner who has been involved with your ‘reassignment procedure’
  • a letter from a psychiatrist, psychologist or other recognised counsellor confirming you have had counselling on your reassignment
  • letters of support from friends, family or colleagues stating that you are now recognised as female or male in your daily life.
  • your birth certificate or extract of entry of birth
  • any documents relating to any change of name you have had
  • photo identification, and
  • if you were not born in WA, documents confirming you have been a resident here for at least 12 months.

What if the Board rejects my application?

You may be able to appeal the decision. You should get legal advice as soon as possible because there are deadlines (time limits) for appealing the Board’s decision. More information about how to apply for a gender recognition certificate and what happens next is available from the Gender Reassignment Board website.  

Useful documents

lgbtiqa fact sheet header - scales of justice against rainbow background

More information

  • Gender Reassignment Board website

Reviewed:  4 March 2021

Related Pages

  • LGBTIQA+ Discrimination
  • LGBTIQA+ International Human Rights
  • Changing names

The information displayed on this page is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you have a legal problem, you should see a lawyer. Legal Aid Western Australia aims to provide information that is accurate, however does not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions in the information provided on this page or incorporated into it by reference.

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Greens leader Adam Bandt and Senator Janet Rice with a petition supporting gender-affirming healthcare to be covered under Medicare. Source: Supplied

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Australian Government Guidelines on the Recognition of Sex and Gender

In 2013, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 was amended to introduce new protections from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status in many areas of public life.

These legal protections are complemented by the Australian Government Guidelines on the Recognition of Sex and Gender , which commenced in July 2013. The guidelines recognise that individuals may identify as a gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth, or may not identify as exclusively male or female, and that this should be reflected in records held by the government. The guidelines also standardise the evidence required for a person to change their sex/gender in personal records held by Australian Government departments and agencies.

The guidelines apply to all Australian Government departments and agencies that maintain personal records (including employee records), and/or collect sex and/or gender information. The guidelines commenced on 1 July 2013, and Australian Government departments and agencies were expected to have progressively aligned their existing and future business practices with the guidelines by 1 July 2016.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its new Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables 2020 in January 2021. The standard can be used by government, academic and private sector organisations in their statistical collections to improve the comparability and quality of data when collecting statistics.

The ABS Standard was informed by the Guidelines but has incorporated more recent developments to appropriate terminology and language.

If you have further questions that are not answered here, please email the Human Rights Branch at  [email protected] .

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What to watch in March, from Millie Bobby Brown's feminist fantasy mockbuster Damsel to Guy Ritchie's action comedy The Gentlemen

Millie looks to the left with a worried expression and a cut on her face as she stands alone in a dark room.

It's a very good month for the period-drama girlies, with two new offerings to voraciously consume.

Don't worry if ruffles, dragons and swordplay aren't your thing — there's something for everyone among our picks of the best new-to-streaming content this March.

Tell me about... 

  • Damsel , Milly Bobby Brown's new period fantasy movie
  • Mary & George , an irreverent historic drama that's perfect TV 
  • The Gentlemen adaptation starring Theo James and Kaya Scodelario
  • The Regime , Kate Winslet's new absurdist miniseries
  • A Child of Gaza , a searing documentary free to watch on SBS
  • Honourable mentions

Damsel — Netflix

We meet Elodie Bayford (played by Netflix darling Millie Bobby Brown) in some nondescript medieval land as she is told she must marry a prince she's never met, to pull her titled but destitute family out of poverty.

The royal family Elodie is to marry into may appear perfect from the outside, but the increasingly discordant score — from none other than Hans Zimmer — suggests something is amiss in this kingdom guarded by stone dragons.

"There are many stories of chivalry where the heroic knight saves the damsel in distress. This is not one of them," Elodie declares in the film's opening scenes.

If that declaration feels a bit YA feminism to you, same. But rest assured, Damsel leans more towards the adult end of the period genre than, say, Enola Holmes — the last period piece helmed by Brown.

And Brown's somewhat grating theatre-kid energy dissipates after the first 30 minutes of this film, at which point this film stops trying to pretend it isn't dark fantasy and Elodie sheds any pretence of being a damsel-in-distress (shocker!), coming into her own as a young woman determined to save herself from the horrors of Aurea.

Millie, left, places a hand in Henry's as they walk along a stone path with red rose petals strewn across it. Both are concerned

Brown makes perfect sense for the heroine in this subversion of the romantasy genre: To embody Elodie, she must snap in a manner reminiscent of the complete loss of control and inhibitions that was also required of her as Eleven in Stranger Things.

Brown's supporting cast comprises a shocking number of big names: Ray Winstone plays Elodie's father, Lord Bayford, while the one and only Angela Bassett is her stepmother, Lady Bayford. And Robin Wright commands attention as the cold Isabelle, queen regnant of Aurea.

That said, there's still a lot that's questionable about Damsel. There's barely a scene in which Brown isn't very clearly wearing a full face of Instagram-ready makeup, full lashes included. Many of the sets and CGI-heavy backdrops leave much to be desired. There is a nonsensical mix of British and American accents.

But that's because this is ultimately a hallmark feminist fantasy mockbuster. Suspend your disbelief and you'll enjoy it, YA vibes and all.

For fans of: The Princess Bride, Stardust, Kate and Leopold.

Mary & George — Binge

This period piece bears little in common with Damsel beyond the fact they're both set hundreds of years in the past.

The irreverent Mary & George is perfect television. Not one ounce of the enjoyment you will feel watching it will be ironic.

This miniseries tells the story of Mary Beaumont (Julianne Moore), who is desperate to free herself of her provincial life in drab early 1600s England. Mary knows she has too much sharp wit and ambition to continue to suffer being locked inside the desolate house she shares with her physically abusive husband, Sir George Villiers.

So, mere weeks after his untimely death, she remarries to maintain her status in society — but mostly to secure funds to send her beloved, gorgeous (and extremely mentally ill) second son George ( Red, White & Royal Blue's Nicholas Galitzine ), to France.

There, she expects him to come into his power by learning the rules of the aristocracy. This so happens to involve embracing the fluidity of his sexuality — this is a very sexy show.

Mary & George is a historical period drama, so there is some truth to it. Though we can't know the true extent of how much the real-life Mary's scheming had to do with it, we do know that the real-life George swiftly became one of the actual King James I's "favourites" shortly after returning from his sexy jaunt in France.

With this title came endless influence for the Villiers family.

Every single performance in Mary & George is impeccable, from Academy Award-winner Moore's to those of the unknown background character actors. The costume design is exquisite. The writing is fresh, and the liberties the plot takes with this historical story are moreishly salacious. 10/10.

For fans of: The Favourite, The Great, The Empress, Marie Antoinette.

The Gentlemen — Netflix

No, it isn't 2019. Yes, Guy Ritchie is really reusing the title of his five-year-old action comedy for this new spinoff.

Where the original movie followed Matthew McConaughey as an American expat to London who had amassed a fortune growing marijuana under the estates of the cash-poor British upper class, this limited series is told from a different perspective.

Edward Horniman (Theo James), the newly-named Duke of Halstead, is the protagonist of this adaptation. He hadn't expected to inherit his father's estate or title, having grown up believing he would be the spare to his hopeless elder brother Freddy's (Daniel Ings) heir.

It isn't a happy surprise.

"The title has no practical value. The business is broken, there are holes in the roof, the government is greedy, the payroll is ugly, the staff are revolting and my brother is a coke-sniffing c**t," Edward laments — before realising things are about to get much, much worse.

Freddy owes a Scouse crime family eight million pounds. Edward's father was hiding the fact their estate is being used as one of the locations for the aforementioned weed empire.

Selling the property that's been in his family since the 1500s seems like the only way out to Edward. But Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario), the de facto head of said empire, doesn't want that to happen.

Whatever is he to do?

James's performance of the sensible younger brother is smoothly delivered, while Ings is perfectly chaotic as the elder brother/posh tosser character (a role he has stepped into many times over the years). The beloved Scodelario, of Skins fame, doesn't quite manage to pull off the accent she's going for, but the quiet power her performances always thrum with makes up for this.

The Gentlemen isn't groundbreaking and it isn't trying to make any statements about the world beyond the idea that class inequality and the uneven distribution of wealth suck. Like the film of the same name, this is an action comedy, so expect blood and violence. And expect to laugh about it.

For fans of: Knives Out, You, Kingsman: The Secret Service.

The Regime — Binge

Somewhere in a deeply blue-green colour graded "middle Europe", Kate Winslet is the stuff of nightmares.

The Regime sees the Academy Award-winning actress transform into the chilling and immaculately coiffed corrupt leader of a crumbling authoritarian regime, with an accent reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher's.

She stalks through her stark palace, draped in superfluous red party banners, endless wood panelling and … white sheets.

Chancellor Elena Vernham hasn't left the decadent building for some time and during this period she's developed a fixation on black mould, which her staff scramble to mitigate instead of tackling the issue of their shrinking GDP and their dwindling grasp on power.

Our story starts when soldier Herbert Zuback (Matthias Schoenaerts) is brought to the palace to measure humidity levels a few strides ahead of his Chancellor and ensure no one touches her. Vernham specifically asked for one of "The Butchers" from Zuback's former unit, now infamous for shooting people protesting poor conditions at a cobalt mine, to carry out the job.

It isn't long before Zuback realises the opportunity for influence his new ludicrous position affords him over the increasingly unhinged Vernham.

The Regime starts off slow — there's a fair bit of world-building before the plot truly kicks in — but it's worth it. Winslet's considered embodiment of Vernham is deeply and darky funny. Schoenaerts is perfect as the dead-eyed, frankly terrifying soldier who becomes her unlikely source of Rasputin-reminiscent emotional support. With a jaunty score from movie music master Alexandre Desplat, complementary dark Accidentally Wes Anderson set and a smattering of Hugh Grant, The Regime isn't to be missed.

For fans of: Stasiland, 1984, Kleo, Veep, The Office.

A Child of Gaza — SBS On Demand

Being in its 40th season, Dateline obviously isn't anything new but each episode is standalone so it may as well be.

This one takes us to Deir al Balah, in the central Gaza strip, and does exactly what its title promises, telling us the story of nine-year-old Elaf and her family. We are introduced to them at their makeshift home, surrounded by rubble and partially destroyed buildings as far as the eye can see.

Elaf is a fourth grader who was "one of the best students" at school when school was still running, and before her family was displaced from their nearby home in the Bureij refugee camp. She adores the two cats her family somehow manages to continue looking after despite everything they're going through.

This 27-minute documentary from Mohammed Sawwaf, Salah Al-Haw, Ibrahim Al-Otla, Ahmed Al-Shayah and Marwan Al-Sawwaf was filmed during a four-day truce amid the ongoing siege by Israel on Gaza following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023. Which is to say, it's an especially hard watch.

"Each day is the same," Elaf's mother says of their experience. "Fatigue and misery."

When the four-day truce ends, the Israeli bombardment of Gaza resumes and they find themselves displaced once more.

For fans of: Born in Gaza, A Borrowed Identity, Farha.

Honourable new-to-streaming mentions:

  • The Completely Made-up Adventures of Dick Turpin — Apple TV+ : Noel Fielding stars as an 18th century highway robber who becomes the reluctant leader of a band of outlaws. Hijinks ensue!
  • Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda — Netflix : The celebrated Australian comedian is back, this time with a curated comedy showcase platforming genderqueer comedians.
  • Spaceman — Netflix : Based on the book by Jaroslav Kalfar, Spaceman of Bohemia, Adam Sandler stars alongside Carey Mulligan as a sad Czech astronaut on a solo mission in space.
  • Life After Life — ABC iview : Ursula Todd dies one day in 1910 and is reborn that same day. So begins an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth and a series of life lessons.
  • Apples Never Fall — Binge : A mystery drama series based on the Liane Moriarty book, starring Annette Bening, Jake Lacy and Alison Brie.
  • Population 11 — Stan : Based on true events , this new Australian original is about a man who visits a tiny outback town to visit his father, only to find out he has disappeared — and all the local residents are suspects.
  • X (formerly Twitter)

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  • Comedy (Film)
  • Documentary
  • European Union
  • Palestinian Territories
  • United Kingdom

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