committees

Last week, the Attorney General announced a review of surrogacy laws in NSW. His announcement followed discussion at the meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys General (SCAG) about a proposed national model.

Surrogacy is complex issue that can invoke a lot of emotions, made more complicated by the fact that legislation differs around Australia. In NSW, commercial surrogacy is banned but altruistic surrogacy is unregulated. In Queensland, any form of surrogacy is proscribed, while other states and territories accept altruistic surrogacy.  Surrogacy also raises important questions about parenting provisions and the content of birth certificates.

Inquiries into three Bills introduced by the Federal Government as part of their commitment to remove discrimination against same-sex couples and their children from Federal legislation are closing soon.

This week the Standing Committee on Social Issues released the interim report of its inquiry into overcoming Indigenous disadvantage in NSW.

Did the Coalition actually do any work over the parliamentary recess?

The past two weeks have seen every Minister attend an estimates committee meeting.

Estimates committees are an opportunity for Legislative Committee members from all parties to examine the expenditure for the upcoming year being proposed by the Government.

In practice they have a very wide brief that means that members can ask questions about any matter within a Minister’s portfolio.

It is a golden opportunity to interrogate a Minister and expose any problems within his or her portfolio.