15th May 2024
Victorian Legislative Council, Melbourne
Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan): My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Industrial Relations and relates to reproductive health leave. I stood in this place for International Women’s Day in March last year to advocate for reproductive health leave. It was not until over a year later that I received advice that my adjournment was better directed to the Minister for Industrial Relations, so here I stand again asking this government to act on reproductive health leave. Normalising and supporting reproductive leave will contribute to gender equality in the workplace and in society.
Since I raised this matter last year, Queensland has come out and announced new workplace entitlements for Queensland public sector workers, including a nation-leading 10 days of reproductive health leave. This leave can be used for things like fertility and IVF treatment, chronic reproductive health conditions like endometriosis, preventative screening for things like breast and prostate cancers and other reproductive health treatments like hysterectomies and vasectomies. Although ideally, we would like to see a broader approach that includes things like menstruation, abortion and miscarriages, this is still good to see a state government acting on this. Thankfully, they are not alone. The Victorian Women’s Trust has had it in place for years, and private companies like Future Super have limited menstruation and menopause policies that provide employees with extra paid leave or flexible working arrangements.
People are sick of using sick leave, personal leave and leave without pay to deal with reproductive health. Reproductive health leave would assist people enormously and keep them in the workforce longer. No-one should have to use their sick leave for essential bodily functions, so the action I seek is that the minister adopt reproductive health leave as a matter of government public policy.
Thank you for your question about assisted reproductive treatment reforms.
The Minister for Health is responsible for the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 (ART Act), and for the administration of the system of Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) in Victoria, including surrogacies assisted by ART services. The Minister for Health commissioned the Gorton Review and has been leading its implementation since 2019.
It is sometimes necessary to consequentially amend the Status of Children Act 1974 (SOC Act) to ensure that Victoria’s legal settings with respect to donor and surrogate births are consistent and straightforward for Victorian families, and this is my responsibility.
For example, the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment (Consent) Act 2019 amended both the SOC Act and the ART Act to expand surrogacy counselling requirement. A surrogacy counsellor can now either be a person employed for that purpose by an ART provider or a person who meets prescribed requirements for a surrogacy counsellor.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety continues to work with the Department of Health as it works its way through the recommendations of the Gorton Review.
The remainder of the question should be directed to the Minister for Health, as the minister leading the implementation of the Gorton Review, for further response.
Written response, received 25th of June 2024:
Thank you for your question about assisted reproductive treatment reforms.
The Minister for Health is responsible for the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 (ART Act), and for the administration of the system of Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) in Victoria, including surrogacies assisted by ART services. The Minister for Health commissioned the Gorton Review and has been leading its implementation since 2019.
It is sometimes necessary to consequentially amend the Status of Children Act 1974 (SOC Act) to ensure that Victoria’s legal settings with respect to donor and surrogate births are consistent and straightforward for Victorian families, and this is my responsibility.
For example, the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment (Consent) Act 2019 amended both the SOC Act and the ART Act to expand surrogacy counselling requirement. A surrogacy counsellor can now either be a person employed for that purpose by an ART provider or a person who meets prescribed requirements for a surrogacy counsellor.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety continues to work with the Department of Health as it works its way through the recommendations of the Gorton Review.
The remainder of the question should be directed to the Minister for Health, as the minister leading the implementation of the Gorton Review, for further response.
Jaclyn Symes MP
Attorney-General
Minister for Emergency Services
