Committee Details

Committee’s report

The committee tabled Report No. 14, 57^th Parliament – Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill 2024, on 2 August 2024. The Bill was passed in the Legislative Assembly on 10 September 2024.

About the bill 

On 22 May 2024, Hon Shannon Fentiman, Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Services and Minister for Women, introduced the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill 2024 into the Queensland Parliament.  The Bill was referred to the Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee for detailed consideration.

View: Bill 
View: Explanatory Notes 
View: Explanatory Speech
View: Statement of compatibility 

The purpose of the Bill is to:

• establish a framework to regulate assisted reproductive technology (ART) services in Queensland
• establish a donor conception information register in Queensland.

ART are treatments or procedures that address fertility, including artificial insemination (other than self-insemination), in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and gamete intrafallopian transfer. 

Donor conception assists LGBTIQ+ people, single women and couples experiencing infertility who would not be able to conceive without the use of donated gametes (sperm or eggs) or embryos.

Regulation of ART services

The Bill would provide for licensing of ART providers and matters such as information requirements, counselling, consent, time limits on the use of donated gametes and embryos and their disposal, and for the posthumous retrieval and use of gametes.

Amongst other matters, the Bill would prohibit ART providers from:

• using a particular gamete or embryo, or performing an ART procedure in a particular way, for the purpose of producing or attempting to produce a child of a particular sex, except in specified circumstances
• performing an ART procedure if it would result in more than 10 donor-related Australian families and the provider knew it would have that result or did not exercise appropriate due diligence
• using a gamete in an ART procedure if they know, or ought reasonably to know, that the gamete provider has died, unless specified conditions are met.

Donor conception information register

In 2022, the Legal Affairs and Safety Committee (LASC) conducted an inquiry into matters relating to donor conception information. The Bill proposes to implement the intent of the recommendations made by the LASC by:

• establishing a register in the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) which is to be maintained and operated by the Registrar-General of RBDM (Registrar)
• requiring ART providers to provide relevant information about donor conception ART procedures, including historical records, to the Registrar
• allowing persons who have undertaken private donor conception procedures to voluntarily provide information to the Registrar
• establishing a framework to allow donor-conceived people, their parents, donors and other to access information held on the Register
• facilitating contact between persons by consent.

Further information

When published, further information about public proceedings, transcripts, and other documents related to the inquiry can be accessed under the Related Publications tab.

Call for submissions

Submissions closed on 27 June 2024. Submissions accepted by the committee can be accessed under the “View Submissions” tab above.

PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS

The committee intends to conduct a public hearing on Friday 12 July 2024, followed by a public briefing the same day. Further information about these proceedings will be published on this page in due course.

Timeline