REGISTRY OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES — ADOPTION
ACT
191. Hon NICK GOIRAN to the Leader of the House representing
the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the Attorney General's response on 17
February 2022 to question without notice 50 in which he directed the final part
of my question to the Minister for Child Protection.
(1) Is the
minister aware that the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages rejected an
application from an adoptee seeking to have
their birth name and birthdate recorded with other biological children on the
death certificate of their biological
parent on the basis of section 75(1) of the Adoption Act 1994, which states —
Where an adoption order
is made, for the purposes of the law of this State —
�
(b) the relationship
between the adoptee and —
(i) the adoptee's
birth parents �
is to be treated as
not being that of child and parent �
(2) Is the minister
considering any law reform to address the systemic distress to adoptees seeking
truth in the state's records of births, deaths and marriages?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) Yes.
(2) In February 2012, the Senate Community Affairs
References Committee made a number of recommendations about former forced adoption policies and
practices. Recommendation 13 recommends that all jurisdictions adopt
integrated birth certificates, that these be issued to eligible people upon
request, that they be legal proof of
identity of equal status to other birth certificates, and that jurisdictions
investigate the harmonisation of births, deaths and marriages register
access and the facilitation of a single national access point to those
registers. The Department of Communities will be working with the Department of
Justice in relation to recommendation 13, including identifying the extent of
legislative change required.