Surrogacy debate: whose rights are we concerned with?

Surrogacy debate: whose rights are we concerned with?

The Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, Diana Bryant, will be the keynote speaker on 17 April in Brisbane hosted by the Australian Association of Women Judges, on the topic: Surrogacy: whose rights are we concerned with?

Her Honour will deliver an address, followed by a panel discussion. The panellists will be her Honour, Professor Andreas Schloenhardt from the University of Queensland and me.The panel will be moderated by Justice Roslyn Atkinson from the Supreme Court of Queensland. It promises to be a lively evening!

Chief Justice Bryant has previously decried human trafficking in surrogacy. She has also called for the enforcement or scrapping of laws that criminalise intended parents undertaking surrogacy overseas. Her Honour recently proposed that Australia needed to act quickly, and unilaterally, to set in place certain criteria before kids can move to Australia.

Professor Schloenhardt is an expert as to human trafficking, writing extensively on the topic.

Details of the event:

Date: Friday 17 April 2015

Time: 5.30pm to 7pm

Place: Banco Court, Supreme Court of Queensland, George Street, Brisbane

Cost: FREE, all welcome

RSVP: Kelly Morseu (07) 3247 9214, email: Kelly.Morseu@justice.qld.gov.au

Things to Read, Watch & Listen

Surrogacy and Medicare: Why the Outdated Exclusion Needs to Go

In this episode of the Australian Family and Fertility Law Podcast, Stephen Page dives into a long-overdue issue: the exclusion of surrogacy from Medicare funding in Australia.

Resolving Australian Embryo Disputes

At the 27th Annual Family Law Conference in Cape Town on 28 March 2025, leading fertility and family law expert Stephen Page delivered a landmark presentation on how Australian law approaches embryo disputes.

Importing Sperm into Australia. Where Does it Come From?

In this eye-opening video, Stephen Page breaks down the surprising reality behind sperm donation in Australia — and why we rely so heavily on imports.

Family Law Section Law Council of Australia Award
Member of Queensland law society
Family law Practitioners Association
International Academy of Family Lawyers - IAFL
Mediator Standards Board