Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill is another step in delivering reform to intercountry adoptions.

For too long, adoption had been in the too-hard basket. For too long, it has been too hard to adopt and for too long, this has been a policy no-go zone.

It should not be that way—because adoption is all about giving children a better life.

There are too many children who have no parents, or no effective parents, and they deserve a better life and adoption is a way of giving it to them.

The government wants to make it easier to adopt when it is in the best interests of the child. We do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past, but we do want to remove the red tape and reduce the delays—that do not benefit anyone.

It is red tape that impacts on children who legitimately need a safe and loving home and Australians who dream of providing that home.

So in December last year I announced that the government would improve overseas adoption by the end of this year.

We have been delivering on that commitment.

Already, the government has considered a report by senior officials on options to reform overseas adoption which was informed by over 100 submissions from the public.

We have announced improvements to the process for families adopting children from Taiwan and South Korea.

We have opened a new overseas adoption program with South Africa—and are commencing discussions with seven other countries about possible new overseas adoption programs.

COAG, the Council of Australian Governments, has also agreed in principle to a new national overseas adoption service from 2015; and the minister for immigration is developing options to reduce waiting times for visas for adoptive children from overseas.

This bill is another important element of my government’s commitment to reform intercountry adoption.

The purpose of this bill is to facilitate the grant of Australian citizenship to children adopted by Australian citizens under bilateral adoption arrangements between Australia and countries that are not party to the Hague convention on intercountry adoption.

Under such bilateral arrangements, Australian citizens have, for several years, been able to adopt children from South Korea, Taiwan and Ethiopia. Although the intercountry adoption program with Ethiopia is now closed, there are a number of families who are awaiting the finalisation of their adoptions.

At present, children adopted under bilateral arrangements require a passport from the home country and an Australian adoption visa to travel to Australia. This imposes additional complexity and cost on the adopting families. Under the amendments to be made by this bill, children will be able to be granted citizenship as soon as the adoption is finalised. They will then be able to travel to Australia on an Australian passport, with their new families, as Australian citizens.

This bill will place children adopted by Australian citizens under bilateral arrangements in the same position as children adopted by Australian citizens under Hague convention arrangements. The overarching requirement from Australia’s perspective is that a potential partner country, first, is willing to participate in an intercountry adoption arrangement with Australia and, secondly, will meet the standards and safeguards equivalent to those required under the Hague convention.

Where a non-convention country meets these standards, there is no reason why adoptions should not be recognised in the same way as adoptions in convention countries.

The government has recently given effect to this principle by amending the Family Law (Bilateral Arrangements-Intercountry Adoption) Regulations 1998 to provide for automatic recognition of adoptions in partner countries once the adoption is finalised and an adoption compliance certificate has been issued.

Children adopted from Hague convention countries which issue adoption compliance certificates are already able to obtain Australian citizenship as soon as the adoption is finalised. This has been the case since the enactment of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007. The adoption compliance certificate provides assurance that the adoption has been carried out in accordance with the ethical and legal framework required by the Hague convention. As the process for children adopted under bilateral arrangements, including automatic recognition under Australian law, is in substance identical, there is no reason why those children should be treated differently in the Australian Citizenship Act.

The key feature of the bill is an amendment to subdivision AA of division 2 of part 2 of the act. The amendment simply expands the scope of the existing Hague convention provisions, so that they also cover adoptions in accordance with bilateral arrangements. The decision-making framework remains the same. An application must be made to the minister for the child to become an Australian citizen. The application can only be approved if the adoption has been finalised in the overseas country and an adoption compliance certificate issued by the authorities of that country. The adoption must also have the effect of terminating the legal relationship between the child and his or her previous parents. Importantly, the minister retains a discretion to refuse an application which meets the requirements.

This would be relevant if fraud or some other irregularity came to light before citizenship was granted. Similarly, the minister must not approve a child becoming a citizen if the minister is not satisfied of the identity of the child.

The amendments made by the bill will apply for the benefit of all children adopted under bilateral arrangements, whether the adoption was finalised before or after the amendments come into force.

I am pleased to undertake this real action to bring families together.

Without pretending that everything is going to be simple and straightforward immediately, I hope that this bill and my government’s other reforms to intercountry adoption will provide significant new hope for parents without children and significant new hope for children without parents.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.