Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The differentiation, I think, is not apparent. A sperm is just a transport mechanism for the material. The genetic material is what makes the embryo. If it arrives by sperm or it arrives by motor vehicle, it makes no difference. It is like saying that people in this place are intrinsically different if they arrived here by car as opposed to arriving on foot or by plane. Once you have an egg with two lots of genetic material, you have an embryo.

I have just heard Senator Patterson say that this is likely to be reviewed in the future. So we are already acknowledging that this whole process is a moving target, and part of that review will be to change the 14 days to 28 days, to 36 days, to three months—to whatever is convenient. What we have in that final part is the acknowledgement that this is just a process; it is not the final point. It is going to move on from here and we are really heading towards that brave new world.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Bill reported with amendment; report adopted.