Michael Ferguson (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise also to speak to this motion this afternoon because I have been a supporter of reform in the area of overseas adoptions since I was first elected. I strongly believe that suitable Australian couples willing and able to welcome a child who does not have parents into their home deserve the support of the community, deserve less red tape and deserve less obstruction in the way of government fees. The report by the House Standing Committee on Family and Human Services on the inquiry into adoption of children from overseas makes some crucial recommendations. Today I would like to address some of these and give my support.

Recommendation 3 calls for a greater harmonisation of laws, fees and assessment practices by the Commonwealth when it renegotiates—as I hope it will—the Commonwealth-state agreements. There are substantial fees imposed on couples who wish to adopt a child. I believe it should be financially much less burdensome. Among the fees are expenses for application, travel and assessment, including medical and police checks. If applications are approved, there are further fees. In my home state these amount to something like $2,100, which, I have to say, as high an amount as it is, is the lowest in Australia. Elsewhere it can be as high as almost $10,000. Other fees that are levied for overseas adoption include a charge by the Commonwealth of around $1,300. Overseas programs that are responsible for the processes in the child’s country of origin also charge fees which can amount to tens of thousands of dollars.

Recommendation 9 of the inquiry report asks for the removal of the age limit for adopted children’s eligibility for the maternity payment, as long as a claim is made within 26 weeks. Similarly, recommendation 10 calls on an amendment to the eligibility criteria for the maternity immunisation allowance for children adopted overseas, so that the period is two years after the child’s entry to Australia.

These recommendations make sense. Why? Because both the accepted tradition of adoption and state law say that an adopted child is regarded as though he or she had been actually born to the parents. So if the law sees no difference on rights or status then so should regulations concerning payments and financial support. Couples who do wish to adopt a child from overseas have to go through what I have to say is a sometimes difficult and always emotional process. It is these people whom I would like to speak on behalf of today.

The latest edition of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s report Adoptions Australia, published in December, shows that 434 overseas adoptions occurred in 2004-05. Eighteen of these adoptions were in my home state of Tasmania. This is quite encouraging, because it has processed some five per cent of all intercountry adoptions and has just 2½ per cent of the population. It is so good to see Tassie kicking above its weight. The children adopted to Tasmania last year came from the Philippines, China, Ethiopia, India, South Korea and Thailand; and I know of a couple working right now on an adoption application for a child from Eritrea. I have been in touch with several adoptive parents in Northern Tasmania who have shared with me their stories. Often these have been stories speaking of many hardships and obstacles which have been in some cases overcome. In other cases, they have been too much.

If we as Australians want to encourage members of our community to provide new and loving homes for orphaned children then we need to look at how this is being frustrated. I would today like to praise the committee for its willpower, thoughtful consideration and, of course, the work that was necessary to produce this fine report. I am inwardly proud to have raised this issue in parliament in March last year, when I moved a private member’s motion on overseas adoption in terms similar to those we are discussing right now. As part of that motion I called on the Australian government to examine how it can better support families who have adopted children either within Australia or without. I also called on state governments to immediately review their excessive fees. I hope and expect that both the Commonwealth and state governments will now act on these recommendations and work together for the benefit of Australians who want to pursue the selfless act of adoption. I commend this motion to the House in the interests of Australian families—our promotion of one of the most touching forms of overseas welfare, and future young Aussie children who may not share the same skin colour or eye colour as their new parents but will share a love and affection that only a family can offer. (Time expired)

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