Greek surrogacy statement

The issue regarding Australian parents who have had their newborns detained in Crete is of deep concern.

I have written to Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Australian Ambassador to Greece Alison Duncan to support the submission by Australian citizens to have visitation access to their children whilst this matter is resolved.

I understand several babies are being held, pending an investigation into the Mediterranean Fertility Institute.

For some of these Australians, surrogacy would have been a final option after what is likely to have been a long and harrowing road with fertility. For them, this clinic would have provided a beacon of hope and an alternative option to becoming parents. I can only imagine the heartbreak they must be feeling to have gone through the entire process and to now not be able to see their child.

This must be a very difficult situation for all involved; the newborn babies who have been taken away, the surrogate mothers, and the intended parents.

I respect the Greek legal process, and hope for a speedy resolution for the Australians unwittingly caught up in this situation.