Page 3508 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 31 October 2023
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allow discretion for the court to make parentage orders in a broader range of circumstances. The bill provides transitional arrangements for surrogacy arrangements on foot when the bill commences.
We have consulted with targeted stakeholders, many who are here today, who represent specific groups within the community that have an interest in surrogacy and would be most impacted by the bill. This includes community organisations, including those working with LGBTIQ+ community members and women, fertility and sexual health clinics and organisations, legal organisations, donor-conceived people and ministerial councils. Many stakeholders were supportive of these proposed reforms, recognising the need for the Parentage Act to be updated to reflect developments that have occurred in the past 20 years and to better align with surrogacy laws in other states and territories. Again, I thank them for their engagement, suggestions and assistance.
This bill will make a positive impact on our community for those who want to start a family through an altruistic surrogacy arrangement due to personal circumstances such as experiencing infertility and difficulties conceiving a child, or by being in a same-sex relationship. The bill will remove barriers to altruistic surrogacy, provide further clarity of requirements for all parties involved and ensure adequate protection of human rights for children born of surrogacy, surrogates and intended parents.
This is another historic piece of reform which I am proud to lead and deliver, but the reality is that we have got to this point thanks to the incredible efforts of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate. This is the fifth piece of human rights legislative reform in as many sitting weeks. I think that is nothing short of remarkable—remarkable in the achievement, remarkable in the excellence in drafting across all bills, and remarkable in how they will change people’s lives in Canberra for the better.
This has all been undertaken by a small but exceptionally capable team. Their work ethic, their commitment to human rights, their advice and guidance, their willingness to find solutions—all of it is first-rate. I am so proud, as Australia’s first human rights minister, that I get to associate myself with a team of this calibre. Without them, these reforms would not have progressed. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mr Cain) adjourned to the next sitting.
Justice and Community Safety Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
Debate resumed from 11 May 2023, on motion by Mr Rattenbury:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR CAIN (Ginninderra) (11.17): The Canberra Liberals will be supporting this bill and also supporting the amendments lodged yesterday afternoon by the Attorney-General. The bill in its original form will change the title of Principal Registrar Chief Executive’s Office of the ACT Courts to the Chief Executive Officer of the ACT Courts to clarify that the position is not there to direct registrars or deputy registrars in the exercise of a function of the court.
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