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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 191 asked in the Legislative Council on 17 March 2022 by Hon Nick Goiran

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

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.