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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 5 Hansard (11 May) . . Page.. 1509 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

carrying out the IVF procedure. However, the court may waive this last requirement if for some reason this independent advice has not been given. It may do so if it is satisfied that there is no reason that would preclude the arrangement and that it is in the welfare and interests of the child to make the parentage order.

The reason the application will not be possible for six weeks after the child's birth is that, as a matter of principle, substitute parent agreements are not enforceable. Birth parents should have a period of time to revoke any previous arrangements. A similar cooling-off period is considered appropriate for the relinquishment of a child for adoption. We are putting in place requirements similar to those for a normal adoption. This position is also included in legislation in the United Kingdom which is very similar to the legislation I am proposing today. Of course, the court must be first and foremost assured that the whole exercise is altruistic and is in no way a commercial venture.

The effect of a parentage order would be similar in many ways to the effect of 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 the people involved would be determined on this basis from the date of the order. Once an order has been made, it is proposed that the registrar would 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 apply to children who are subject to parentage orders. This means that the general law of 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 the provisions 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.

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 is 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 when the couples know each other and the parentage is determined by them. However, the bill provides court oversight to ensure protection of the interests of all concerned, particularly the interests of the child.

The circumstances in which surrogacy arrangements 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. But, of course, it is important that all parties agree to

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