Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee looked at this bill very closely. Indeed we had a number of witnesses give evidence to the committee. A lot of the issues that Senator Siewert has just spoken about were issues that the committee was also concerned about, but the committee deliberated, addressed those issues and asked questions. The committee was of the view that the bill should be passed and the committee made a couple of recommendations.

I take on Senator Siewert's theme, that children who come to Australia and are adopted by Australian citizens in many instances have a much better future ahead of them than they perhaps would where they were. That became clear from some of the evidence given to the committee.

The Senate referred the provisions of this bill to the committee in June 2014. The bill allows for acquisition of Australian citizenship by a person adopted outside Australia by an Australian citizen in accordance with bilateral arrangements between Australia and another country. In particular, the bill amends the Australian Citizenship Act to create entitlement to citizenship in accordance with bilateral arrangements—that is the same as the entitlement currently provided to persons adopted in accordance with the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The Hague convention process as implemented into Australian law provides for the immediate grant of citizenship following completion of the adoption in a foreign country. The statutory regime set out in subdivision AA of division 2 of part 2 of the act allows for the immediate grant of Australian citizenship following completion of the adoption. This allows the adopted child to travel to Australia as an Australian citizen and, thereby, removes the need for the child to obtain a passport from the home country and an adoption visa under the migration regulations.

The bilateral arrangements to which the amendments will apply are identified in the Family Law (Bilateral Arrangements-Intercountry Adoption) Regulations. The regulations currently apply to adoptions under bilateral arrangements with Ethiopia, Korea and Taiwan. These are the only three countries who are not signatories to the Hague convention that these arrangements will apply to. In all three cases, the bilateral arrangements are exactly the same as the provisions of the Hague convention. I heard what Senator Siewert said; I do not agree with her because these are issues that were raised by the committee with witnesses who understand the issues. It was made very clear that the provisions of the Hague convention would apply to these few bilateral agreements we have. One of those countries with which we have that bilateral agreement is in the throes of becoming accredited under the Hague convention in any case. Regarding another one of those three countries, where life is not perhaps as ordered as it used to be when these arrangements were first made, that country, as I recall the evidence given to the committee, no longer is dealt with under these bilateral arrangements because of the concerns that Senator Siewert mentioned. The Australian officials have thought that for the moment those bilateral arrangements with one of those countries would be suspended.

This bill will speed up a lengthy process and will allow Australian parents to be connected with their adopted children in a much simpler way. With no disrespect to Senator Siewert, I have to say that Senator Siewert takes the typical Greens line—the glass is always half-empty, never half-full. The number of people and the number of children who will be benefited by this amendment and reform is very significant, and that is something that we as Australians want to ensure does happen. Sure, we have to be very careful of those very few who fall through the cracks, but, by and large, this is a reform which will make the whole process much better.

The committee made three recommendations. Of these recommendations, in response to the concerns raised by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, the committee urged the government to positively state its position regarding the primacy of the child's interests in the operation of the revised scheme for intercountry adoption. The committee recommended that, subject to other recommendations, the bill be passed. The second recommendation was:

The committee recommends that the child protection principles set out in the Hague Convention, particularly the overarching requirement that the best interests of the child be the paramount consideration in intercountry adoption processes, be explicitly articulated in Australia's bilateral arrangements and, where relevant, in the related legislation and regulations.

The department has indicated that that is how it will proceed. The third recommendation was:

While not directly relevant to the committee's terms of reference, the committee strongly urges Commonwealth, state and territory governments to ensure that adequate resourcing and priority is provided for follow up monitoring and support to ensure that it fully addresses Australia's obligations to adoptees throughout the adoption cycle, regardless of whether adoptions take place under the Hague Convention or under bilateral arrangements.

So, regardless of which it was, we are very concerned and Australia is concerned to ensure that adopted children are properly cared for in Australia.

On the human rights issue, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection provided the committee with evidence that it had reviewed the amendments against the provisions of seven key international treaties. As the children to whom these amendments are relevant are located outside Australia's territory or jurisdiction, Australia's obligations under seven core human rights treaties are not effectively engaged. However, once these children come within the Australian territory or jurisdiction, these rights and freedoms articulated under the seven core international human rights treaties will be enlivened. The department added that, in its opinion, the bill enhanced the wellbeing of adopted children by creating a more streamlined and cost-effective process which allowed these children to commence their lives in Australia more quickly.

The Attorney-General's Department advised that the bill would not change post-adoption support arrangements which were provided by state and territory governments in accordance with their respective laws. Whilst the laws and processes may vary in some respects between states and territories, support services were provided to adopted children and their families on an identical basis whether the adoption took place under the Hague convention or the bilateral arrangements.

During the inquiry, the committee also noted advice from the relevant department that the bill would not in any way compromise the interests of the child nor the standards and safeguards applied to intercountry adoption programs under bilateral arrangements, which will continue to mirror the principles of the Hague convention. Additionally, we were told that COAG has given in principle support for the utilisation of an existing agency to provide services for intercountry adoptions. An agreement was reached at the COAG meeting in October 2014. As far as I am aware the details of that program have not yet been finalised or announced. The streamlined citizenship process created by the bill will make overseas adoptions faster, easier and more cost-effective for adopting families and will enable adopted children to settle more quickly and easily into their new lives and access key support services more immediately upon arrival in Australia.

The Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee strongly endorses the passage of the bill through the parliament. I thank all those who gave evidence to the committee during its deliberations. I thank the deputy chair, Senator Collins, and other members of the committee for their attention to the evidence and the material given to the committee in researching and considering this bill. The bill is a reform and I urge the Senate to do as the Senate committee did—that is, agree with the adoption of this bill.