Australians Conceived Through Sperm Or Egg Donations Will Be Able To Identify Their Donors

16.08.2012

It is up to the states and territories to legislate so that Australians conceived through sperm or egg donations can identify their donors, the federal government says.

The government has backed a Senate committee's call for donor information to be made available but says there is no constitutional power for the Commonwealth to legislate comprehensively in the area.

Last year in February a Senate committee handed down 32 recommendations, chief among them a proposal to introduce a national registry to contain donor information.

The recommendation, if implemented, would allow donor-conceived people to find out who their donor is once they turn 18 years old.

It also recommended donors not be able to identify their offspring unless the children gave their consent and siblings to have to give their approval to be identified to their half-brothers or sisters.

In its response to the committee recommendations, the federal government said it supported the recommendations in principle but it was a matter for states and territories.

"The Australian government supports the need for the interests of donor-conceived individuals to be protected but acknowledges that there is no constitutional power that would support a Commonwealth scheme to legislate comprehensively in this area," the response said.

"States and territories are responsible for enacting legislation regulating donor conception practices in Australia."

An estimated 60,000 people in Australia have been conceived through donor practices yet there is no legislation in place in Queensland, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT to regulate donor conception.

The federal government supported the committee recommendation for the two states and two territories to establish such legislation as a matter of urgency.

It said it would pursue all available policy and political options, including through the Council of Australian Governments to ensure nationally consistent legislation despite lacking the constitutional power to do so.

The government response also supported recommendations to limit donors to assisting four families and put a temporary moratorium on records held by government, agencies, doctors and clinics identifying donors.

It agreed with the committee's recommendations that any register, if not retrospective, could be made voluntary, to allow donors who had donated anonymously to agree to disclose their information.

news.com.au