ART Update from Australia: Stephen Page Presents at South African Family Law Conference

On 11–13 March 2026, Stephen Page, Director at Page Provan Family and Fertility Lawyers, presented remotely at the prestigious 28th Annual MDT/UWC Global Family Law Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

As Australia’s leading surrogacy lawyer and an Accredited Family Law Specialist since 1996, Stephen delivered “ART Update from Australia”—a comprehensive overview of Australia’s evolving assisted reproductive technology landscape, shaped by recent high-profile IVF errors, regulatory overhaul, and rushed legislation.

A Fellow of both the International Academy of Family Lawyers and the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, Stephen was awarded the Queensland Law Society President’s Medal in 2023. His presentation drew on decades of frontline experience advising clients across fertility law, surrogacy, and donor conception—offering international colleagues critical insights into Australia’s complex federal system and the ongoing challenges of regulating a rapidly advancing field.

What’s Covered in This Paper

Stephen’s presentation tackles the tumultuous 2025–2026 period in Australian ART regulation, marked by rare but catastrophic IVF errors, regulatory reform, and the unintended consequences of hasty lawmaking.

Key topics include:

• Monash IVF Errors – Two unprecedented embryo mix-ups at Australia’s second-largest IVF provider (April and June 2025), including the wrong embryo transfer in Brisbane and a reciprocal IVF error in Melbourne. Stephen examines the legal, ethical, and emotional fallout, the stock market impact, and what Family Court judges might do when biology and social parentage diverge.

• The Rapid Review and Regulatory Overhaul – How Australian Health Ministers responded by replacing the Fertility Society of Australia’s accreditation body (RTAC) with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care—a reform that won’t take effect until 2028 or 2029, leaving clinics in regulatory limbo.

• Donor Regulation Chaos – Australia’s fragmented state-based donor registries and the push for national reform. Stephen highlights the lack of coordination among five (soon six) state systems and the referral to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) for a comprehensive donor law review—still unfunded and unimplemented.

• Queensland’s Rushed Legislation – A cautionary tale of how “horror stories” drove rapid lawmaking in 2023. The Assisted Reproductive Technology Act was debated and passed in record time, leading to unintended criminalisation of imported sperm, conflicts with domestic violence protections, and breaches of Commonwealth anti-discrimination law. The Health Minister later paused implementation, admitting the Act was “rushed through parliament… without adequate consultation.”

• The Danger of Rapid Reviews by Non-Experts – Stephen critiques the trend of governments commissioning fast-track reviews in highly technical areas, warning that non-specialists often “don’t see the wood for the trees,” resulting in incomplete or unworkable reforms.

Download the full paper (PDF)

Why This Matters

Stephen’s paper offers vital lessons for lawmakers, clinicians, and family law practitioners globally:

• The critical importance of thoughtful, expert-led regulation in reproductive technology
• How rushed legislation—even with bipartisan support—can harm patients, clinics, and families
• The real-world consequences when regulatory frameworks lag behind scientific and clinical practice
• Why national coordination is essential in federations with fragmented state-based regulation

Whether you’re a family lawyer navigating parentage disputes, a fertility law specialist, or a policymaker shaping reproductive health law, this paper provides a rare, ground-level perspective on one of the most challenging periods in Australian ART regulation.