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Parents of surrogate children will have an extra five years to lodge an application for recognition on their child’s birth certificate under laws passed through the House of Assembly today.
The Statutes Amendment (Surrogacy) Amendment Bill was passed through the Legislative Council without dissent last week and passed through the House of Assembly without a Division being called today*.
The Private Members Bill was introduced by the Hon John Dawkins on 12 May 2010.
It is a minor, but extremely important amendment, which extends the time for people who were already parents due to an altruistic gestational surrogacy agreement, to apply to have their names listed on their child’s birth certificate from the child’s 5th birthday to the child’s 10th birthday.
John Dawkins’ original Surrogacy Bill was the first of its kind to correct the anomaly, under existing interstate legislation, whereby surrogate parents needed to formally adopt their own children for them to be officially recognised on their child’s birth certificate.
Before introducing the amendment, Mr Dawkins sought the advice of the Attorney General, Hon John Rau, who confirmed draft national legislation being considered further extends these transitional arrangements up until the child’s 18th birthday.
“Notwithstanding this principle, the Attorney General reiterated his refusal to progress this amendment as a Government Bill – leaving me with no choice but to proceed with this matter as a Private Members Bill,” Mr Dawkins said.
“This is a small administrative amendment but will mean a great deal to existing surrogate parents, like Kerry and Clive Faggotter, who now have the right to apply to be officially recognised on their son, Ethan’s birth certificate.
“I am extremely grateful to supporters in both Houses of Parliament who have supported both the original Bill and this amendment and I would like to thank the Parliament for its concurrence in proceeding with this amendment swiftly,” Mr Dawkins concluded.
* A Division is a formal vote of the parliament.
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