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In a wide-ranging speech in Brisbane last night, Justice Diana Bryant told journalists that current laws were driving couples to enter into unethical arrangements overseas.

She said two disturbing cases of child abandonment in India and Thailand should force the Federal Government to act.

Justice Bryant said Australian women should be able to be paid to be a surrogate mother.

"I personally think we should regulate and allow commercial surrogacy in Australia," she said.

"If we allow it in Australia, we then can regulate it and ensure that it's done on ethical terms."

Justice Bryant said a national inquiry was needed.

"I think the Government could eliminate some of the worst aspects of international surrogacy by devising some ethical requirements that need to be met before intending parents are permitted to bring a child back into Australia," she said.

In Australia, it is illegal to pay a woman to carry a child for someone else, except in the Northern Territory where there are no laws concerning surrogacy.

In the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and New South Wales, it...