Mr WETTENHALL (Barron River-ALP) (10 February 2010, 4.28 pm): I rise to support the Surrogacy Bill 2009. Until becoming a member of the committee of the Queensland parliament that investigated the decriminalisation
and regulation of altruistic surrogacy in 2008, I must admit that I had given little thought to the issues surrounding surrogate parenthood. That was all to change because during the course of the committee's inquiry-but particularly after listening to the evidence and reading the submissions of people who are
directly affected by the current state of the law in Queensland-it did not take long for me to reach the view that it was quite wrong for it to remain a criminal offence to enter into an altruistic surrogacy arrangement in Queensland.
I thought that that position at least would have been relatively uncontentious, not only in this House but also in the wider community. However, from the debate so far it seems that members of the opposition will not be supporting the government's bill, which achieves that purpose.

The government's bill reflects an acceptance that there are many people in Queensland who desire to start a family but who, for a variety of reasons both medical and social, cannot do so. For them, resort to altruistic surrogacy provides the only realistic way of creating a family.

In Queensland under this bill the people who will be able to access
surrogacy will be intended parents who are a man and an eligible woman, or who are both men or both eligible women, or who are the sole intended parent whether a man or an eligible woman. An eligible woman is a woman who is unable to become pregnant, carry a pregnancy or give birth, or who would be
unlikely to survive the pregnancy or birth, or whose health would be significantly affected. It also includes the situation where, if the woman did conceive a child, the child would be affected by a genetic condition or
disorder, or the child's life or health would be at risk by pregnancy or birth. Those conditions reflect the notion that surrogacy is an option of last resort for intending parents.

The committee's investigation heard that women who would seek altruistic surrogacy fall into three main categories: they are women in the assisted reproductive technology system, women without a uterus who are not accessing ART for obvious reasons, and women with high-risk medical conditions. From the evidence given to the committee it was estimated that approximately 50 Queensland women per year would fall into those categories. It is very clear from the evidence taken by the committee that the total number of women potentially seeking access to surrogacy will be very low.

I believe this parliament should not deny this small but significant number of Queenslanders the opportunity to have a child and to raise a child in Queensland. We know that this desire is strong enough to cause people to move interstate to enter into surrogacy arrangements where it is lawful to do so. Why should we deny Queenslanders the opportunity to have a child in their home state, with access to the support of their family, friends and doctors and the services and supports with which they are comfortable and familiar? I do not believe we should deny people the opportunity to form a family in Queensland.

I acknowledge that one aspect of the bill that is more contentious than the decriminalisation of surrogacy per se is the provisions that enable same-sex couples to be eligible to enter into a surrogacy arrangement. Some Queenslanders believe that a child has a right to a mother and a father, and that this bill takes away that right in the case where a single man or a same-sex couple want to start a family.

Whatever one's view of an ideal family composition, I cannot accept the proposition that a single man, a single woman or a same-sex couple cannot raise a child as successfully as a family consisting of a mother and a father.

Like the Premier and other members, my own experience from having met single mothers, single fathers and gay and lesbian parents tells me so. All of the evidence strongly suggests that it is a home environment filled with love, care, compassion and respect that is the most important factor in a
child's upbringing and wellbeing.

I am sure that all in this place are saddened and concerned that thousands of Queensland children are now under the protection of state laws because of abuse and neglect. The vast majority of those children come from what might be considered traditional families made up of a mother and father.

Therefore, it is clear to me that a so-called traditional family does not guarantee a healthy, happy and safe home environment for children. Indeed, in modern-day Queensland a great diversity of family types raise children. As stated in the Report into the investigation into the decriminalisation and regulation of altruistic surrogacy in Queensland, more than one-quarter of children born between 1976 and 1983 spent some time living in a single-parent household by the time they were 18 years of age. The number of heterosexual couples cohabitating without marrying has increased. Blended families represent 10 per cent of all couple based families with children under 18 years. Nearly 4,500 children live in same-sex families nationally.
Twenty per cent of lesbian women and 10 per cent of gay men are parents.

It does not matter what our moral beliefs are. It is plain and obvious that in Queensland people from all walks of life and with various lifestyles want to have children and will find a way and a place to do so. I believe that, in those circumstances, as legislators it is our obligation to provide a legal framework that regulates such arrangements in a way that protects the best interests of the child.

Why should a child brought into this world under a surrogacy arrangement be treated any differently from any other child conceived by means of assisted reproductive technology? I strongly believe that all children born in
Queensland should be equal in the eyes of the law and that the people who raise, love, nurture, care for and educate those children-that is, for all intents and purposes, the children's parents, regardless of their biological relationship and regardless of their sexuality-should be supported in carrying out their parenting responsibilities, not hindered, constrained or indeed criminalised by intrusive and unnecessary state laws and regulations.

I will comment briefly on the provisions of the bill that amend the Status of Children Act 1978 to recognise the lesbian partner of a child's birth mother as a legal parent of the child when the birth mother has undergone a fertilisation procedure to conceive the child with the consent of the lesbian partner. Under
the current law, it is presumed that the child has only one parent, the birth mother. The amendments will provide for a parentage presumption for the female de facto partner of the birth mother.

I cannot support the LNP bill that would restrict access to the transfer of parentage provisions to couples in a heterosexual relationship and make it unlawful for same-sex couples and single persons, as well as heterosexual de
facto couples whose relationship is under two years duration, to enter into a surrogacy arrangement with a penalty of 100 penalty units or two years imprisonment applying. Unquestionably that is a discriminatory law that is illogical and inconsistent with other laws and practices of this state and cannot be supported.

As has happened in the past, some members opposite see this parliament as a vehicle to impose their own morals and world view. Fundamentally, I do not believe that this parliament has any legitimate role in dictating who may or may not start a family and raise a child in this state, because in the context of
altruistic surrogacy arrangements there is not one scrap of credible evidence that children conceived and raised in this way are in any way harmed or at risk of harm, nor is there one scrap of credible evidence that such arrangements in any way, shape or form harm society. I believe this to be the case regardless of whether the family is made up of a mother and father, a single mother or father, or a same-sex couple.

Whilst I acknowledge and respect the variety of views strongly held in the community about these issues, my conscience leads me to support the government's Surrogacy Bill. I urge all members to support that bill and reject the Family (Surrogacy) Bill introduced by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.