HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-10-29 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

Surrogacy Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 17 October 2019.)

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (16:32): It would come as no surprise to most people in this chamber that I rise to support this bill and support it very strongly. Members in this place will understand, I think, that I have been working on these issues since 2005 and that my initial legislation in the Legislative Council was well reviewed by the Social Development Committee of the day, led by the Hon. Mr Hunter. While I did not agree with everything in that report, the reality was that we got, I think, a better bill, which went through this place relatively quickly. It took some time, however, to get it through the other place, but we finally got that legislation through late in 2009.

In 2015, I decided to bring in another bill to respond to the baby Gammy issues and other issues relating to the suitability of some would-be commissioning parents and also the issue of baby factories in some parts of the world. Unfortunately, despite the fact that that act as it stands today was agreed to in both places without division, the attorney-general of the day decided to take a very long time to get around to consulting on regulations and then did not agree with some parts of the act, although, I might add, his office had actively worked with me in the preparation of that bill which became the act.

I do acknowledge the Hon. Mr Hunter's efforts in helping me to get a compromise bill up in this place, which was promised to go through the assembly but of course failed to do so in the last moments of the last parliament in that chamber. It is ironic, given what we have just been discussing, that the urgency of that issue and I think one to do with genetically modified crops, which we will be dealing with tomorrow, were part of the reason that my private member's legislation and I think other private members' legislation was delayed in the lower house. It is ironic that these things are all coming to us again at the same time.

I certainly do not intend to delay the chamber. I will refer to the work of the South Australian Law Reform Institute in a moment, but I think Madeleine Thompson, from that organisation, who has done a lot of the work that SALRI was charged to do by the current Attorney-General, have read every word I have ever said in this place about surrogacy, and I feel sorry for her, because there have been a few. But it has been an issue that I have been passionate about since the days that Kerry Faggotter first came to see me when her little boy was one year old—he is now 15.

I commend the Attorney for providing urgency to SALRI to examine this matter. Of course, that report was brought down in November last year. I appreciate the work of Madeleine Thompson but also, obviously, Professor John Williams and David Plater for the very broad way they examined all of the complex issues that are related to surrogacy. I am also very grateful to parliamentary counsel and particularly Mark Herbst for the assistance he gave me as a private member in a number of pieces of legislation to do with surrogacy.

There has been significant consultation—in fact, I think it is probably greater than significant. I think the SALRI consultation was very comprehensive not only in this jurisdiction but in other parts of this country. The Attorney-General has also, I think, undertaken great consultation since the development of the draft bill which accompanied the SALRI report late last year. I would also give great credit for a lot of the work that has been done in that consultation and the development of the current bill to another Madeleine, Madeleine Church, from the office of the Attorney-General, whose work on this issue has been terrific.

We do have a standalone bill, and I think that is a great advancement. In my first attempt it was something I wanted to do, but I think advice came that it was probably easier, as a private member, to amend the various other pieces of legislation that were relevant to surrogacy. So I think that at one stage at least we were amending three acts. I think it is a particular advantage that we now have one bill. There were a number of debates in the lower house recently about some issues that had never been raised with me and were raised by people that had never shown any interest in this topic whatsoever, but if members want to raise those issues again in the future, I think it will be easier to do so. I say that for members of both houses.

It is a conscience matter. We have always been very pleased with the way it has been dealt with in this council on every occasion, in that there has never been a division. I am very proud of the way in which this council has dealt with this matter. I think that, generally, the way we deal with conscience issues is of a significantly higher level than perhaps other examples nearby.

As a private member who has worked very hard on this, it is a great delight that we have a government now that has put some resources into this legislation. I am very keen that this legislation goes through very soon. It is not perfect; there have been one or two issues that I would probably have liked to have retained from the act that is currently there. I think the compromise the Hon. Mr Hunter and I sought from the previous attorney showed that the bottom line is that we get relevant legislation in place, which I know will lead the country. There are one or two small issues I am prepared to set aside for another day. It might be another person who does it; who knows?

I think it is important that we get this legislation through and that we get the surrogacy scene in South Australia settled. As much as we have had some, in my view, very good legislation, the fact that the current act has never been operated in its current form is a great shame. I think that has put some uncertainty into the sector, and that goes right across the whole community.

I will indicate my concern that it was only at 10 minutes to two this afternoon that I became aware of any amendments to this bill in this place. Obviously, after that, the Hon. Ms Bonaros, who I have great regard for, also moved the contingent notice of motion. I suppose I was dealing blind in that, and I will examine those amendments between now and when we deal with this in the committee stage.

As I said to many colleagues in the lower house when they were debating the recent amendments in that chamber: please do not delay this bill, because it has been a long time coming and we have many biological clocks ticking. Only in this parliament today has someone who has worked here for some time said, 'This is a very good bill. I wish this had been around because my wife and I would have utilised it. We have adopted, but if we had had this ability we would have used it.' Those words really reinforce why I have spent a very long part of my time here on these matters.

I am also very keen that we get clarity on this whole situation because, while there is uncertainty, there are people who are going overseas. They are going overseas to some places in Europe and in Asia where the practices are not as we would expect in this country. I am aware that there are some countries where, if you have enough money, you can not only have a child through a surrogate but you can actually get a doctored birth certificate to say that the commissioning mother is actually the birth mother. That is appalling and we need to avoid those things.

While there has been some uncertainty in the way things happen in this state, we have had more people who have been attracted to take up surrogacy options in other parts of the world. We have some of the best reproductive technology in the world in this state and it has always baffled me as to why we do not give South Australians the very best opportunity to have a surrogacy in South Australia. I commend this bill to members and reiterate that I am very supportive of it. I am also very keen that we do not delay this issue any further. I support the bill.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (16:45): I rise to indicate that I will be supporting the Surrogacy Bill, which I note is a conscience vote for Labor members as well. The bill provides a framework for the creation of lawful surrogacy agreements entered into between consenting parties, through which a child's parentage can be transferred to the intended parents. The bill also establishes a number of safeguards for all parties and, most importantly, for the child. These include raising the required age of parties to a surrogacy agreement to 25 years, creating an offence for all parties to a commercial surrogacy agreement, and clarifying the law around compensation for loss of income for the surrogate mother.

The bill also ensures fairness for all prospective parents seeking to enter surrogacy agreements by calibrating the fertility requirements in such a way as finally to include same-sex couples as single individuals. The Hon. Mr Dawkins spoke about the long road that we have taken to get ourselves this far. It does not seem like it was almost 10 years ago now that the Social Development Committee's inquiry into surrogacy—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: More than that.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: More than that? Yes, we are going back a little way. That committee recommended these changes to the legislation but for various reasons they were not supported through this parliament, unfortunately, but I am pleased to see that they are in this legislation.

The SALRI report the Hon. Mr Dawkins referred to was published in October 2018, which formed the basis for this bill, and notes that the number of South Australians who access surrogacy arrangements annually is quite difficult to determine. It quotes family law expert Mr Stephen Page, who described a normal year as seeing 40 children born through surrogacy inside Australia and about 250 overseas to Australian intending parents.

SALRI suggests that, regardless of the precise figures, overseas surrogacy arrangements are more prevalent than domestic surrogacy. The bill seeks to clarify the process and requirements for domestic surrogacy arrangements and ensure that domestic non-commercial surrogacy is an accessible choice for prospective parents. In my view, this is a very positive step. It increases the extent to which we can regulate surrogacy agreements. It ensures adequate protections, as I said earlier, and support for children born through surrogacy, but also for the surrogate mother. It also maximises the ability for those who want to become parents to start a family, regardless of their personal circumstances.

I would also like to thank the Attorney-General in the other place for her work in progressing this issue. I also would especially like to thank the former attorney-general, John Rau, for his heartfelt contribution to this process and for making the initial referral to SALRI, which I think is a basis for our successive legislative attempts to get a workable piece of legislation through this parliament.

SALRI's reports have been heavily relied upon by members on a number of issues and surrogacy, in this case, is no exception. The work of Professor John Williams and his team is always of high quality. They, too, deserve our thanks. I particularly want to acknowledge the Hon. John Dawkins for his years and years of work and for his determination to see this issue through. As he has said, he and I have worked closely on this issue in the past. A South Australian surrogacy act will be a lasting legacy to the Hon. Mr Dawkins' determination to create a fair and equitable surrogacy law for this state and, as he said, to settle it down and to give a stable platform for families to start creating the family they have always wanted.

In establishing any framework to regulate surrogacy, a balance must always be struck, of course, and I suppose that is the heart of the difficulties around this legislation that we have been debating for the last decade. On the one hand, there is a desire to ensure that any person who desires to become a parent can do so and to remove legal and administrative barriers to realising their ambitions, but on the other there is a need to protect any child who is born of such a surrogacy agreement, to protect the surrogate mother and, indeed, all parties to the agreement.

This issue has been debated and worked on for many years and I believe the bill before us gets the balance right. As the Hon. John Dawkins said, it may not be perfect but it gives us the ability in this state to go forward with a settled situation for surrogates and surrogate families. I, therefore, will be supporting the bill wholeheartedly and look forward to its swift passage through this place.

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (16:50): This bill is about protecting and supporting families. We are raised to believe that at some stage in our lives we will be confronted with a choice as to whether we extend our family or not. We accept that intending parents will make a decision about conception at some stage of their lives and, as a society, we have developed programs and supports to assist in the process. For example, sex education is taught in schools, and we have health clinics as well as counselling services, to guide and assist expecting parents with reproductive options from the early stages of conception, throughout pregnancy and the birth of the child.

Unfortunately, there are significantly less supports in place when it comes to those who choose to start a family but, for some reason, are not biologically able to do so. Coupled with limited options in terms of adoption, which is potentially an avenue to create and build a family, choices are severely limited. We are witnessing more and more Australian couples with fertility issues who are turning to surrogacy: the practice of a woman becoming pregnant with a child that may or not be genetically related to her, carrying the pregnancy and giving birth to the child for another family, who may then become the legal parents of the child.

It is a difficult process to navigate. It is wrought with the risk of exploitation for both the surrogate and intending parents, as well as inadequate protections for all involved. Due to it being such a difficult process to navigate in Australia, many couples are opting for international surrogate companies, only further complicating the process. Whilst exploring their options and having sought advice from local experts, many couples are recommended to international surrogacy agencies such as the Ukraine-based Lotus agency.

From SALRI's investigations and report, it is clear that that path is wrought with concerns which need to be addressed to ensure the wellbeing of the parties involved and the child to be born as a result of surrogacy. Take, for example, the Pitcher family who, through surrogacy, had twins born with bleeding on the brain. Their condition was found to be a direct result of poor treatment of the surrogate. It was an issue identified prior to birth, held up by the company's request for additional funds before initiating treatment on the surrogate and performing surgery on one of the children.

Looking closer to home is the Williams family from Adelaide. They made a complaint about the lack of care for their surrogate after the birth of their twins. Their surrogate was left without professional care after the birth. I quote, 'She was covered in blood.' We have seen countries overseas, such as India, recognise the risk faced due to the option of surrogacy without protections, as well as commercial surrogacy, that have introduced protections to allow only altruistic surrogacy. Even Sam Everingham, an Australian expert who is sponsored by Lotus, admits that the current process for families seeking surrogates overseas is difficult and has stated that intending parents will not receive the same level of care as they might in Australia.

More must be done to ensure protections for South Australian families. On that note, I thank the Hon. John Dawkins for the persistent and tireless work that he has invested in this matter. The honourable member initiated the conversation that had to happen, which allowed for the previous Labor government to inquire into a suitable regulatory framework for surrogacy and the bill we are now presented with today: thank you. I sincerely hope we can see this through.

I would also like to thank SALRI for the enormous contributions made in terms of examining, conducting research and consulting widely with the community and interested parties on this issue. Their extensive investigations and recommendations have formed a solid foundation for this bill. The bill before us today sets out what will be considered to be a lawful surrogacy arrangement. The arrangement will entitle intending parents to apply to the Youth Court for a transfer of parentage of the child.

Consistent with the current scheme, the paramount consideration will be for the best interests of the child born as a result of the surrogacy arrangement. It will:

provide the birth mother with rights, where the transfer can only occur with consent;

increase the age required of parties to a surrogacy agreement from 18 to 25 years;

make clearer provision for compensating surrogates for loss of income;

provide less complexity with fertility requirements; and

implement the SALRI recommendations of accommodating cross-jurisdictional service provisions.

It will also be important to ensure that all parties are provided with counselling services that enable full and independent consideration of the implications of the arrangement so that informed decisions are made.

This bill strikes a good balance in terms of regulation, incorporating the views of the community and taking into consideration cross-jurisdictional complexities. I believe it goes a long way to help ensure that a surrogate is not disadvantaged by the surrogacy, without allowing her to profit from it, with the interests of the child being paramount. It is about removing any element of profiteering in the process, protecting all parties to a surrogacy.

Importantly, this does not in any way support or condone commercial surrogacy, which has been heavily associated with exploitation of women and intending parents, as well as endangering the wellbeing and welfare of children and, at times, surrogates. In fact, this bill creates an offence for parties who enter into a commercial surrogacy agreement, with up to 12 months' imprisonment.

Presently, there are no protections in place in relation to surrogacy agreements. Furthermore, it will be an offence to advertise commercial surrogacy services or to advertise a willingness to enter a commercial surrogacy agreement. I cannot stress enough that the rights of all concerned, and the children born of surrogacy, should be paramount when deciding this bill.

Only last sitting we revised and passed a bill with respect to reproductive rights, recognising the link between record keeping and the health of a child, and that by doing so we are able to improve the communications we have with health professionals, which can contribute greatly to proactive treatment before a condition becomes a problem. It was an area that we as the Labor Party recognised needed improvement and initiated steps to review the ethical, social and legal issues that have been raised and debated in relation to assisted reproductive treatment.

It found that a central donor conception register would greatly assist the welfare of any child to be born because of the provision of assisted reproductive treatment. When reviewing this bill I believe it is important to ensure that we are consistent in our lawmaking endeavours and have regard to previous immediate legislation passed. It is for this reason that I am pleased to have seen the Hon. Connie Bonaros' amendments, which will go a long way to preventing some of the tribulations experienced in that area.

The fact remains that for some surrogacy is the only option available to individuals and couples who wish to start a family, for varying reasons as I have noted. It is a practice that is already occurring, with it being predicted that there are somewhere between 250 and 700 surrogacies in Australia. We have a responsibility to: firstly, ensure the safety of the child to be born as a paramount concern; secondly, to ensure that there are adequate supports and services available to the individual or couple, just as any other individual or couple is afforded; and, thirdly, that the practice is free from exploitation and profiteering. For those in this place who may have the argument that this is a matter for the federal government, I remind you of SALRI's second recommendation:

SALRI recommends that, in light of the likely delay of uniform (or at least consistent) national laws being developed, South Australia should, as far as practicable, revise its laws in relation to surrogacy until national laws are formulated, to ensure the State's laws are as effective as possible.

It is for these reasons that I support this bill.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (17:00): For some, parenthood may have come about by surprise and, for others, it may have been through months or years of planning, and perhaps not planned at all. For some, the social and emotional impact of conceiving a child might be significant and may never eventuate. The latter is a journey I know many people would hope would not be their path but there are many variables that might come into play, from the risk that becoming a parent or giving birth to a child will result in physical harm to gender identity and sexuality.

However, surrogacy reforms proposed by this bill might provide another path and, more importantly, a choice that will help support individuals and couples on their journey to parenthood. Many have acknowledged during the debate, both in this house and the other place, any reforms to surrogacy attract strong emotional and often conflicting views. Again, this was the case when this bill was debated recently in the other place—a debate that highlighted the very real complexities surrounding building legislative reform that is able to accommodate the vastly varying circumstances that individuals and couples will be confronted with when considering surrogacy as an option to parenthood.

While there are many complexities and varying paths that will be taken in surrogacy, I support appropriate legislative reform that protects both the surrogate mother and her partner, and indeed the parent or parents, to ensure all parties have considered and are aware of the personal and legal steps towards lawful surrogacy. I have mentioned before in this place that, when considering complex matters like surrogacy, I feel it is important as legislators to establish an appropriate framework, not just through government regulations but through legislation.

I feel this bill has taken considered steps in addressing this guiding principle by ensuring the intended parents and surrogates have the information they need to make an informed choice about their surrogacy journey by setting out parameters of what must not be agreed to and what can be agreed to, whilst giving some flexibility to individuals by not requiring the government to take a direct and ongoing role in the establishment and maintenance of individual agreements.

The bill before us is giving hopeful parents and surrogate mothers the tools to guide them so that they can establish an agreement that supports their journey and above all protects the best interests of a child born as a result of surrogacy. It is at this point that I would like to acknowledge the work undertaken by the South Australian Law Reform Institute for their undertaking of the legislative framework review of part 2B of the Family Relationships Act, which was published in October 2018.

I acknowledge director John Williams and his team for their invaluable contribution to bring together this report, which was requested by the former attorney-general, the Hon. John Rau. I would also like to thank, as does SALRI's report, the many individuals who shared deeply personal and often painful accounts of their experience during the submission stage of this report. I would also like to recognise the longstanding commitment of the Hon. John Dawkins in calling for surrogacy reforms and the member for Bragg, the Hon. Vickie Chapman, the Attorney-General, for introducing this bill in another place.

I feel the report compiled by SALRI provides a comprehensive list of recommendations on the best lawful surrogacy practices and legislative reform to protect the community from unlawful commercial surrogacy, and I note the bill before the parliament reflects a vast majority of the recommendations put forward by SALRI, an outcome that is a credit to the SALRI team.

There is no greater gift than the gift of life, and that is what this bill is based on. In its truest meaning, surrogacy is required by this bill to be a gift, a gift of life. This bill prohibits commercial surrogacy through preventing the exchange of payment in any form to the surrogate mother, an intended parent or any other person or body except to ensure that a surrogate mother is not financially disadvantaged as a result of her involvement in a lawful surrogacy agreement.

This support includes the intended parent or parents covering costs relating to the pregnancy, the birth, postnatal care of a child, medical counselling and legal services during the surrogacy journey. Importantly, the bill calls for qualified counselling to be provided in assisting the surrogate mother, her partner and intended parent or parents to support them before, during and after the surrogacy journey.

However, counselling is not the only step taken to establish support before surrogate mothers and intended parents take steps towards a lawful surrogacy agreement. Many requirements are detailed within this bill to help protect all parties from exploitation before an agreement is made and, importantly, ensure that the child's best interests are paramount. A lawful surrogacy agreement must comply with many provisions, including but not limited to:

a requirement for all parties to obtain a lawyer's certificate in respect of a surrogate mother and each intended parent;

that all parties are to be over the age of 25 at the time of entering a lawful agreement;

that the surrogate mother must not have impaired decision-making capacity in respect to the decision to enter a lawful agreement; and

all parties involved must be Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia.

To further protect surrogate mothers and intended parents this bill sets out what constitutes an unlawful commercial agreement to further ensure all parties are protected, including:

if one is to seek a commercial agreement, a maximum penalty is applied of up to 12 months' imprisonment;

inducing a person to enter a surrogacy agreement through harm or undue influence attracts a maximum penalty of imprisonment of up to five years; and

among other penalties, it makes it an offence to arrange or negotiate a surrogacy agreement on behalf of another.

While this bill covers many areas, I call on the government to reflect on the recommendation outlined in the SALRI report that highlights the need for regulation and for relevant professional organisations to provide comprehensive, reliable and impartial advice to all parties about surrogacy and its various implications through a state-funded website, and to continue to pursue any discussions to work towards a uniform national scheme. This is a highlight to work towards because, as we know only too well in this place, any national surrogacy framework will be a long time in the making, but it is a process that should not be overlooked or allowed to slip off the agenda.

As I mentioned earlier, there is no greater gift than the gift of life. I hope this bill provides a safe and supportive framework to give the gift of parenthood to South Australians who choose to take surrogacy as their journey.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (17:09): I rise on behalf of the Greens to support this bill. The Surrogacy Bill 2019 repeals part 2B of the Family Relationships Act 1975 and creates a standalone act to recognise and regulate certain forms of surrogacy in our state.

Surrogacy, of course, refers to an arrangement for a woman to become pregnant and give birth to a child for another couple or a single person with the intention of giving that child to the couple or the person once the child is born. People turn to surrogacy as a means to have a family for a variety of reasons, and many women are very happy to act as a surrogate. I am glad that, with this standalone bill, we will be supporting those families in those choices.

Those women have an absolutely inspirational gift to give, as the Hon. Emily Bourke just mentioned, to help others experience the joys of parenthood and family. Some women may have finished having their own families while others may decide to continue to have more children in their own future. There is no one size fits all for surrogates. I note that research carried out by the Family and Child Psychology Research Centre at City University in London between 2002 and 2006 found that, overwhelmingly, surrogates have little difficulty handing the child they have carried back to the intended parents.

Contemporary media about surrogacy often focuses on the problems and the challenges, and it might make good midday movie viewing, but it actually bears little resemblance to reality and the statistics. The majority of surrogacy arrangements end without issue, with both the intending parents and the surrogate completing their journey together and feeling satisfied and fulfilled.

This bill has had a very long gestation before it came to us today. I am pleased that it at least has the current decade in its title. At this point, I acknowledge the work of the Hon. John Dawkins in well over my just under a decade here. Indeed, the very first phone call I ever received from the Hon. John Dawkins was about surrogacy and possibly supporting that aforementioned work of the Social Development Committee, and there have been many other phone calls since that time.

I was incredibly disappointed in the last parliament that we did not progress the work on surrogacy as we should have, that the legislation that passed this place was not given due consideration in the other place, that these issues were left to languish and that previous members of the other place said to particular constituents that perhaps God did not want them to have children or that they had not seen the bill on the Notice Paper when they were in the position of whip in the other place. They seemed to have an extraordinary range of 'my dog ate the homework' excuses for why we could not finish the job that was started so long ago, but we are here today to finish this job.

In very late 2017, after Christmas Day, the South Australian Law Reform Institute was asked by the former attorney-general to inquire into and report on the law regulating surrogacy in South Australia and to suggest a suitable regulatory framework for surrogacy in our state. That referral to SALRI for proper investigation and recommendations for reform, based on best practice in this area and with the guidance of course of other jurisdictions—one of the benefits of lagging is that we have the benefit of learning from those who have led—ensures that we have an effective, modern and appropriate reform for surrogacy in South Australia.

SALRI presented that report to government on 30 October 2018. That report made some 69 recommendations, including a recommendation for a standalone surrogacy act, which we are seeing realised here today. South Australia should be very grateful for the work of SALRI and, in particular, I commend the work of Professor John Williams, Dr David Plater, Dr Sarah Moulds, Ms Madeleine Thompson, Anita Brunacci and the entire team there, including the students, who have worked tirelessly on this project. They brought back to our parliament a very worthy effort, and we certainly owe them a debt.

We do not owe a debt, however, to those who have ignored, delayed, obfuscated and demeaned the lives of those who seek laws to support families in all their diversities. While political games have been played behind the scenes, biological clocks have been ticking. In my own group of friends, I know people who have undertaken surrogacy within this time where the parliament has dragged its feet and moved at a glacial pace, completely in spite of the needs and the lives of those members of our community. I am glad today that we are putting the needs of those members of our community to the fore, for a change.

In this case, the SALRI referral demanded extensive work, and that a draft bill was prepared in accordance with the recommendations of SALRI and duly tabled in parliament late last year for public consultation and feedback are very welcome innovations of the Marshall government. They have all taken place and we have before us now a bill. The Marshall government has afforded this debate precious government time.

Previously, these matters have been left to languish in private members' business time only, strangled, constrained, consumed and gazumped by other motions, often in their own way somewhat worthwhile but often distraction and diversion tactics used to stop these particular debates ever seeing the light of day and getting to a vote of the members of this place, when that is in fact our job—to vote in this place.

Surrogacy, as is noted by SALRI, does raise ethical, legal and other sensitive and personal issues and implications. Commercial surrogacy, where a fee is charged for carrying the pregnancy and delivering the child, will remain unlawful under this bill, as it is in Australia. This is a position that is reflected right across our nation. That is not to say that we have not had commercial surrogacy arrangements entered into outside our shores by those who are resident in our nation, because we have. The system provided by this bill will enable domestic non-commercial surrogacy, where no fee is charged but, appropriately, various medical or other costs may be recovered, to finally get the legal recognition it deserves.

Specifically, the bill has a set of guiding principles, including that the best interests of any child born as a result of lawful surrogacy is the primary consideration in the administration and the operation of this act; that the human rights of all parties to a lawful surrogacy agreement, including any child born as a result of the agreement, must be respected; and that the surrogate mother, under a lawful surrogacy agreement, should not be financially disadvantaged as a result of her involvement.

It also requires the age of all parties to surrogacy agreements to be 25 or older, and allows easier access to surrogacy agreements in which neither intending parent provides the genetic material. It makes clearer provisions for the payment of reasonable surrogacy costs, including compensating surrogates for loss of income. It provides less complex fertility requirements that include same-sex couples and single intending parents.

It requires surrogates and intending parents to provide each other with a criminal history check prior to entering the agreement, it implements the SALRI recommendations of accommodating that cross-jurisdictional service provision by removing the requirements for fertility treatment to take place in South Australia, as well as allowing interstate lawyers and counsellors to fulfil advisory functions under the bill, and it maintains that existing protection, including the requirement for all parties to obtain counselling.

It has been well over 10 years, as I mentioned. It really is our job in this place to best serve our constituents and our communities, and here today we are doing that—not just those who often have the loudest voices in this place but all voices and the diversity of members of our community and members of the state of South Australia. Today, we do a great service, I think, to people who have for too long been ignored, been stymied and had their lives treated as if they are not important. Today, we will show them that we do believe that they are important, with the passage of this bill. I commend the bill to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens.


At 17:20 the council adjourned until Wednesday 30 October 2019 at 14:15.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT