National Surrogacy Inquiry on Federal Government Agenda
Tuesday 14 October 2014 @ 9.08 a.m. | Legal Research
A national inquiry into surrogacy has been called for after news that another surrogate baby was abandoned by Australian parents in Asia.
Background to Calls for National Inquiry
Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant says a surrogate mother gave birth to twins in India in 2012 but their Australian parents only took one home. The commissioning parents, who had gone through an agency, did not want to take both babies. Consular staff at Australia's High Commission in New Delhi delayed giving the Australian parents a visa while they tried to convince them to take both children home.
Following hot on the heels of the Baby Gammy Case, Federal Circuit Court Chief Judge John Pascoe has called for a national inquiry into surrogacy. He told the ABC that the Family Court and Federal Court had been left to deal with a process that did not have appropriate legislation in place.
This call was backed by the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, which said proper consideration of the complex issues is critical to the protection of the rights and interests of vulnerable women and children.
Reaction from Federal and State Governments
Australian Greens spokesperson for Legal Affairs Senator Penny Wright said a number of revelations, including the Baby Gammy case, made the need for an inquiry urgent:
"Surrogacy is an area where the law has clearly failed to keep up with practice...This is an issue which urgently requires further exploration to make sure our laws are the best they can be to protect the rights of children, women and parents.Australia's surrogacy laws vary greatly from state to state and we need to be looking at whether our local laws are pushing up demand for international surrogacy."
Opposition leader Bill Shorten said Labor is open to a national inquiry in terms of surrogacy rules. He said former Attorney-General Nicola Roxon commissioned a report on the issue several years ago, and Labor’s Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek also endorsed an inquiry:
“The next logical step that people including judges have been calling for is a more thorough investigation of Australian state-based laws around commercial surrogacy arrangements and their intersection with immigration law."
A spokesman for Attorney-General George Brandis said the Federal Government was considering all recommendations of the Family Law Council’s report into parentage and surrogacy, including its call for an inquiry into surrogacy. But Prime Minister Tony Abbott has maintained surrogacy was a matter for the states, and he had no intention of changing “the ordinary constitutional arrangements”.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett's suggestion takes the issue even further saying he would like to see a national inter-country adoption body also handle surrogacy, especially as Western Australia is one of the only States in Australia not to have currently banned the use of international surrogates:
"I suspect what is needed is national agreements between say Australia and Thailand, or India, other countries, that may be involved...I don't think we should outlaw surrogacy, it can be a good way for a childless couple to have a child and as long as it's done properly and professionally, why not?"
Although no current inquiry has yet been announced, the previous inquiry is available at the Family Law Council Parliament of Australia.
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