Lyle Shelton criticises coverage after The Australian published a family

Family First has renewed its opposition to surrogacy in Australia, arguing that public debate and media coverage give too much weight to adult hopes and too little to the rights of children. The party linked its latest criticism to a personal story in The Australian about a woman acting as a surrogate for her twin brother and his husband.

Lyle Shelton, Family First’s national director and a candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Council, called the article a moving account of family sacrifice. However, he argued that it also exposed a larger ethical issue that Australia is becoming less willing to confront.

Shelton expressed sympathy for adults facing infertility and for people who cannot have children. “Our sympathy is with every adult who experiences the pain of infertility or the heartbreak of not being able to have children. That suffering is real and deserves compassion,” he said.

However, Shelton argued that compassion for adults should not decide public policy. He said lawmakers should start with the best interests of the child when they assess any surrogacy arrangement.

Family First will continue to oppose both altruistic surrogacy and commercial surrogacy, according to Shelton. He argued that children should not be commissioned, bought or transferred through legal contracts, whether or not money changes hands.

The Australian surrogacy story

The latest intervention followed a feature in The Australian about a sister carrying a child for her twin brother and his husband. Shelton argued that stories like that usually centre adults who want a child, while the child created by the arrangement receives little attention.

“The media routinely frames surrogacy through the eyes of adults longing for a child. Rarely do we hear the voice of the child who has been intentionally separated from his or her mother from the moment of birth,” Shelton said.

Family First’s position is that, wherever possible, every child should know and be raised by both their mother and father. Shelton said society should help children who lose a parent through tragedy, illness or abandonment, but should not create that loss by design.

Shelton also tied surrogacy to the same-sex marriage debate in Australia. He described commercial surrogacy as “the unfinished business of the same-sex marriage campaign” and argued that earlier warnings about surrogacy demands had proved correct.

In his final argument, Shelton said Family First would keep advocating for laws that put children’s rights ahead of adult preferences. He said the first question in any surrogacy debate should be what every child deserves, not what adults want.