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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2571 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

As I have stated, an application will not be possible before six weeks after the child's birth. This is in line with the principle that substitute parent agreements are not enforceable. The birth parents should have a period of time for revocation of any previous agreement. A similar cooling-off period is considered appropriate where the relinquishment of a child for adoption is concerned. It is also included in legislation in the United Kingdom which is similar to that which I am proposing today. Of course, the court must also be assured that the whole exercise is altruistic and in no way a commercial venture.

The effect of a parentage order would be similar in many ways to an adoption order. The child would become in law a child of the genetic parents and would cease in law to be a child of the birth parents. The relationship to one another of all persons would be determined on this basis from the date of the order. Once an order has been made, it is proposed that the registrar will enter the details of a parentage order in the parentage register and then reregister the birth of the child. This legislation is the best means available for establishing the names of the genetic parents on the child's birth certificate. It is thus the best means available for them to become the child's parents for the purposes of ACT law.

I am also proposing that similar provisions relating to property which apply to adopted children would apply to children who are subject to parentage orders. This means that the general law on property would apply to the new legal relationships, with appropriate exceptions as set out in the Bill. Provision is made for access to identifying information. This is, however, strictly limited, for the protection of privacy. This is similar to provision for access to information and privacy in the Adoption Act 1993. Court records and birth certificates are not to be made available to any person unless they are specifically given the right to these by law. In specified circumstances a child who has been subject to an order, and associated relatives, would be entitled to receive a copy of an entry in the register of births. However, any further identifying information would require the permission of both the genetic and the birth parents, as well as any third party involved. Medical information will be subject to the general law of confidentiality.

Mr Speaker, this legislation allows a couple who are otherwise unable to have a child the opportunity to do so. In doing so it fulfils several important policy criteria. It would be broadly consistent with legislation which provides a consistent legal approach to parentage throughout the country. It bypasses the requirements of placement in foster care, assessments and other adoption proceedings. These requirements are inappropriate where the couples know each other and parentage is determined by them.

However, the Bill provides court oversight to ensure protection of the interests of those concerned. The circumstances in which surrogacy agreements are recognised are limited - that is, to where the commissioning parents are both the genetic parents of the child, and the parties are domiciled in the ACT. It is part of a scheme providing protection for the child and the other parties. This scheme ensures the prohibition of commercial surrogacy. It makes quite clear that the birth parents are the legal parents of the child

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