The number of Australian teenagers applying to start hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has jumped by 360%.

In Australia people under the age of 18 must seek permission from the Family Court to begin HRT.

The number of applications to the Family Court rose from five in 2013 to 23 in 2016.

Sydney’s Inner City Legal Centre (ICLC) provides support to families going through the court process.

“I think it is because there is so much more awareness of transgender issues in the media — we have kids and their parents that are identifying exactly with that,” ICLC principal, Hilary Kincaid, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Australia is the only country that requires transgender minors to get court approval for hormone treatment.

The court process can costs families tens of thousands of dollars and can be traumatic.

Push to change the law

In 2016 activism around the issue gained traction as families and groups lobbied to parliamentarians to change the law.

Teenager Georgie Stone gained national media attention with her story and led the campaign to change the requirement to get Family Court approval for minors to start HRT.

She went on to be named LGBTI Person of the Year at the Globe Awards, saying she would use the award to raise awareness about the issue.

‘I want to use this achievement to shed light on the court’s interference surrounding the access of cross-sex hormones and my aim is to achieve bipartisan support in the parliament of Australia,’ she said.

Last year the Chief Justice of the Family Court, Diana Bryant, said she would work tirelessly to remove the requirement.

“I accept it is difficult and stressful and we need to try and find some more simple solution,” Chief Justice Bryant said.

“I’ve asked the [Attorney General’s] Department if we could organise a roundtable involving the major hospitals … and just see if we can sort out a simpler and consistent method of dealing with these matters,’ Bryant told ABC Online.

‘I would ultimately envisage an application that could be made relatively simply by consent.’