The head of the Family Court of Australia is leading a push to legalise commercial surrogacy.
The change would help avoid complex court cases in Australia and prevent unethical decisions by couples overseas, Chief Justice Diana Bryant said during a lecture at the University of Queensland on Friday afternoon.
High profile cases of abandonment in India and Thailand illustrated the problems associated with such unethical decisions, Justice Bryant said.
"I think the government could eliminate some of the worse 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.
"The knowing the biological parentage for me would be one of the first steps and I think we have a responsibility as a country to make sure that the worst aspects of commercial surrogacy are overcome."
Currently, each state and territory has different surrogacy laws, with some even requiring psychological counselling before engagement, Surrogacy Australia founder Sam Everingham said.
There is discomfort about whether or not a woman should be compensated for carrying a child, he told the Nine Network.
"The woman is doing the work here, she's going through a lot of pain and anguish for often a stranger," he said.
"She needs to be compensated for that."
Mr Everingham urged Prime Minster Tony Abbott to stop "hand balling" the issue to states and show leadership.
He warned the surrogacy system was already going underground.
"We're already seeing a number of Australians engaging in countries with varying regulations, no laws at all," he said.
"We need to address that."
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