Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens have a great deal of concern with the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Intercountry Adoption) Bill 2014. Having chaired the inquiry into forced adoptions just recently and been through the process of listening to the apology that had to be given because of past practices, I come to this from that perspective. The lessons I learnt were numerous but one that I did take very much on board is that we need to be extremely careful about the approach that we take to adoption. I think this bill takes us that one step too far down the road. There are many people in the community as well as those affected by forced adoption practices in the past who are extremely concerned about this bill and, in fact, I know do not want to see adoption at all. At this stage, the Greens and I do not go that far, but I can totally understand where they are coming from. I think we need to listen very carefully to their experiences and ensure that the mother and the child and their perspectives are taken on board—that is, the relinquishing family, the child and also the potential adoptive parents. But we need to focus on the best interests of the child. The Greens and I are concerned that this bill takes us one step too far and that maybe we are losing sight of the best interests of the child.