Why children south of the Murray are different
Many clients of mine assume before they get to my office that there is one set of Australian laws concerning surrogacy and that the laws here must be like the laws overseas, and vice versa. None of that is true. We have 9 systems of law in Australia governing surrogacy, plus some additional requirements of some of the clinics that are not written up in any statute books, plus different laws for those contemplating surrogacy overseas.
To give an example of absurdity: In Victoria there is only recognition under Victorian parentage orders for children born in Victoria. Too bad if the parentage order is made elsewhere. There is currently no ability to alter the birth register of a child born in Victoria when the order is made interstate. To make the situation seem even more Pythonesque, when a parentage order is made somewhere in Australia, those parents are recognised for all purposes under Australian law as the parents. The Family Law Act tells us so. However, although those parents will be recognised as the parents, for example under a NSW order, if their child were born in Victoria there is no obvious method (except possibly costly court proceedings that might involve a constitutional point) for them to be named on the birth register in Victoria!
Silly stuff. I have written to the Attorneys for both NSW and Victoria asking for changes. Let’s see how long it takes.
