The Chief Justice of the Family Court has called for the immediate legalisation of commercial surrogacy in Australia. In a wide-ranging speech in Brisbane last night, Justice Diana Bryant told journalists that current laws were driving couples to enter into unethical arrangements overseas.

She said two disturbing cases of child abandonment in India and Thailand should force the Federal Government to act. Justice Bryant said Australian women should be able to be paid to be a surrogate mother.
"I personally think we should regulate and allow commercial surrogacy in Australia," she said. "If we allow it in Australia, we then can regulate it and ensure that it's done on ethical terms."

The baby Gammy case has exposed the pitfalls of the international commercial surrogacy trade. Gammy, a baby with Down syndrome, was left with his Thai surrogate mother while his healthy twin sister returned to Western Australia to live with her biological father and his wife. Since then, two Australian couples have been temporarily stopped from leaving Thailand with their surrogate children. Thai authorities are considering draft legislation that may shut down the commercial surrogacy trade.