A senate inquiry into the forced sterilisation of disabled people has recommended parents who send their children overseas for the procedure should face criminal charges.
But the report stopped short of legislating against sterilisations altogether, saying they should only be performed with the informed consent of the individual.
Senators from different ends of the political spectrum have been part of a committee debating the issue for nearly a year.
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The central question was whether the families of profoundly disabled people have the right to decide if their children reproduce.
Committee member Senator Sue Boyce, who has a grown daughter with Down Syndrome, said it came down to human rights.
“People with a disability have a right to seek loving relationships, just like everyone else, and they have a right to express their sexuality, just like everyone else,” she said.
The senate committee's 28 recommendations included a ban on forced sterilisation where a disabled person can give consent to the procedure.
Labor Senator Clare Moore said forced sterilisation “is a crime, was a crime and must always be a crime.”
But the committee did not push for a ban on forced sterilisations for people with a disability so severe they could not give their own consent.
“The assumption is it shouldn't happen, unless there is an objective assessment undertaken,” Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said.
The committee also recommended criminal charges for families who took their children overseas for the procedure.
Submissions to the report highlighted widespread misconceptions about disability in society and advocate Stella Young said this was refelcted in attituteds toward sexualtiy.
“A lot of people think that sexuality doesn't apply, that it's not relevant to people with disabilities, which is entirely incorrect,” she said.
