Surrogacy Reform Wishlist: What Australia Needs to Change

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For every child born through surrogacy in Australia, four are born overseas. And it's not because Australians want to leave—it's because our laws are forcing them out.

Stephen Page of Page Provan Family and Fertility Lawyers has spent 15 years fighting for reform. A decade ago, a House of Representatives committee recommended urgent national change. A decade later? Australia still has eight different surrogacy laws, discriminatory Medicare exclusions, and women who won't volunteer to be surrogates because they're the only ones not paid.

This is Stephen's comprehensive wishlist for how Australian surrogacy law must change—and why the Australian Law Reform Commission's 2026 final report could finally fix it.

🔑 In this podcast, you'll discover:

·       Why Australia's patchwork of eight different state laws is costing families thousands in unnecessary legal fees and delays

·       How Tasmania's absurd requirement that everyone live in Tasmania has families tearing apart

·       The "dead rat in the wall": Medicare excludes surrogacy benefits while covering every other fertility treatment (costing just $1 million to fix)

·       Why surrogacy arrangements must be legally binding contracts—like they are in Canada and the US

·       How "limping parentage" leaves children vulnerable when surrogates appear on birth certificates but aren't the genetic mother

·       Stephen's fight for automatic parentage recognition at birth—and the hospital nightmare that proved why it matters

·       The critical role human rights discourse must play in every surrogacy journey

·       Why decriminalisation matters: these laws haven't prosecuted anyone in 20 years, yet they terrify intended parents into going overseas

From access and consistency to autonomy and international recognition—this is the roadmap for reform.

📌 Read Stephen's full 100+ page submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission: 🔗 https://www.pageprovan.com.au

👉 Subscribe for updates as the ALRC's final report approaches in July 2026
 💬 Which reform would make the biggest difference? Let us know in the comments.

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