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Who is a Parent? by Stephen Page

June 4, 2026
CPD

The mother is always certain. The father, not so much. The others- donor, surrogate, partner who consented, partner who didn't, intended parent, parent who turned up later- gets harder to navigate every year the technology moves and the legislation doesn't.

At our most recent CPD session, Stephen Page from Page Provan walked members and guests through where the law currently sits on the question of who is a legal parent. In sixty years of assisted reproductive technology, there are three competing systems (federal, state, and Western Australia), and a string of 2025 cases pulling in different directions.

The recording is below.

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Ophoven & Berzina Decision & Law Reform

The Ophoven & Berzina appellate decision came down in May 2025. It confirmed that a man can be a legal parent with no biological connection to the child, no gestational connection, and without having consented to the conception. What matters is their conduct after.

The second reason is the Australian Law Reform Commission's surrogacy review, with the final report due to the Attorney-General by 29 July 2026. The law on parentage is about to evolve, and Stephen has spent more than three decades watching it move.

What the session covered

Stephen took the room from first principles (the Roman law presumption that the mother is always certain) through to where parentage law actually lands in 2026. The thread connecting it all: parenthood today is a question of fact, and the facts include biology, intention, conduct, and the state you happen to be in.

A few of the points that landed hardest:

  • The history of ART in Australia. Australia produced the world's third IVF baby in 1980 and pioneered single embryo transfers in the 1990s. The legal framework has been chasing the technology ever since.
  • The Ophoven facts. Seven actions over five years that turned a man with no biological tie into the child's legal father.
  • The Lloyd & Compton 2025 case, where Queensland intended parents who used overseas commercial surrogacy ended up referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions and their lawyer referred to the NSW Legal Services Commissioner. A cautionary tale.
  • The "more than two parents" question. The Family Law Act technically allows for it. No-one has tested it yet.
  • The state quirks. WA runs a separate system. Victoria's birth register doesn't auto-update with interstate surrogacy orders. Queensland's "no rights or liabilities" donor framing is doing less work than it used to.

Cases worth knowing

  • Masson v Parsons [2019] HCA 26
  • Ophoven & Berzina [2025] FedCFamC1A 97
  • Allbring & Barsotti [2026] FedCFamC2F 602
  • Lloyd & Compton [2025] FedCFamC1F 28
  • H v Minister [2010] FCAFC 119

About the speaker

Stephen Page is a principal at Page Provan and one of the most experienced surrogacy and family lawyers in Australia. He has advised on more than 2,000 surrogacy matters since 1988 and is the only lawyer to have appeared in surrogacy cases across Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Stephen is a Clarence member.

You can find more of Stephen's work on his YouTube channel and at pageprovan.com.au.

About the Clarence CPD Series

The Clarence CPD Series brings practitioners together at our Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane workspaces to hear from members and specialists on the topics that impact sectors of law and the way they practise and understand it.

Sessions are free for Clarence members and non-members. If you're not a member and you'd like to come along to the next one, email ua.moc.puorgopc@stneve and we'll add you to the invite list.

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