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Australian law could be revised to allow more than two parents, if recommendations in a major report are accepted by the government. A “Report On Parentage And The Family Law Act”, was released this week.

Adoption and new reproduction technologies are placing new strains on what “parent” means in contemporary society. Because of “the evidence of family diversity and children’s views about who is a parent”, the Council has recommended that the word “parent” be replaced by “other significant adults” or “other people of significance to the child” and that references to “both” (which implies only two) parents should be omitted.

There are many kinds of parents, the Council points out: legal, adoptive, genetic, intending, psychological, social and surrogate, amongst others.

The report was commissioned by the previous Labor government and was completed last December. The delay meant that it was released when commercial surrogacy is being placed under a microscope.

Although legalising commercial surrogacy – which is currently banned in Australia -- was not included in the report’s terms of reference, the Family Law Council...