INTRODUCTION

I would like to provide a view from the Bench. Interestingly, that view may be different depending upon which Bench you are sitting both from an International perspective and from an Australian perspective given that Australia, like America, is a federation and state laws may, and indeed do, often differ from federal laws.

The focus of this conference, different perspectives of surrogacy, is, in my mind, its great strength. It encourages of us all to see the same problem through different lenses, to see the issue of surrogacy from the perspective of different cultures and traditions, different professions and different goals. The issue may be approached completely differently if one is a scientist interested in human reproductive technology as opposed to an advocate for children's rights.

However, at the centre of the conference is the bringing into existence of a child – an issue that goes to the heart of our humanity – it literally defines who we are – and must therefore be an issue for humanity as a collective as a whole.

It will be no surprise that, from my perspective, what is critical is the best interests of the child, regardless of the manner in which that child was brought into existence. This is the focal point of any decision made by me as a judge notwithstanding a myriad of other matters to be considered.

Australia is a signatory to the (almost) universally accepted Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘the CRC’). The child's inalienable and inviolate human rights are therefore part of the fabric of Australian law and central to how a judge in my court considers issues relating to children, especially in relation to international commercial surrogacy. In other words, there is an inescapable truth and an inescapable logic that makes the best interests of the child central to the decision-making process rather than issues of contracting rights, adult desires, or technological advances.

The reality from the Bench is that the welfare of the child is at issue, and that must be the primary focus.