Surrogacy Act 2012

In this section – legal cost includes fees for obtaining legal advice and legal representation, court fees, and registry fees associated with registration of a birth and transfer of parentage; medical cost means a medical cost to the extent that it is not recoverable under Medicare or any health insurance or other scheme.

A birth mother's surrogacy costs are the birth mother's reasonable costs associated with any of the following matters in relation to a surrogacy arrangement to which the birth mother is a party:becoming, or trying to become, pregnant; a pregnancy or birth; the birth mother and the birth mother's spouse, if any, being a party to the surrogacy arrangement or proceedings in relation to the obtaining of a parentage order or a parentage order that has been obtained.

Without limiting subsection (2), the following amounts are a birth mother's surrogacy costs in relation to a surrogacy arrangement to which the birth mother is a party:a reasonable medical cost, for the birth mother, associated with any of the matters mentioned in subsection (2); a reasonable cost, including a reasonable medical cost, for a child born as a result of the surrogacy arrangement; a premium payable for health, disability or life insurance that would not have been obtained by the birth mother if the surrogacy arrangement had not been entered into; a reasonable cost of counselling associated with any of the matters mentioned in subsection (2), including the cost of counselling, in relation to the surrogacy arrangement, obtained by the birth mother or the birth mother's spouse, if any; a reasonable legal cost for the birth mother and the birth mother's spouse, if any, relating to the surrogacy arrangement, the obtaining of a parentage order or a parentage order that has been obtained; the value of the birth mother's actual lost earnings because of leave taken – for a period of not more than 2 months during which a birth happened or was expected to happen; or for any other period during or after the pregnancy when the birth mother was unable to work on medical grounds associated with the pregnancy or the end of a pregnancy; travel and accommodation costs associated with the surrogacy arrangement; another reasonable cost associated with the surrogacy arrangement, the obtaining of a parentage order or a parentage order that has been obtained.