Third-Party Reproduction in Australia: A Guide for Asian Intended Parents

Summary: Third-Party Reproduction in Australia

Australia has excellent IVF clinics, but the altruistic framework for egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy means that the supply of donors and surrogates is small. In 2023, around 6.3% of all women who gave birth in Australia did so with the help of some form of ART. In 2023, the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand reported that 103,556 ART cycles were carried out in Australia in over 93 accredited fertility clinics (1, 2). Around one in five IVF cycles is now undertaken by a single woman or a female same-sex couple (3).

Donor-egg, donor-sperm, and surrogacy work, however, account for a small share of that activity. ANZARD recorded 2,492 oocyte-recipient cycles, 1,188 embryo-recipient cycles, and just 405 surrogacy-arrangement cycles across Australia and New Zealand in 2023 (1). Fewer than 150 surrogacy births a year happen domestically in Australia (4, 5). The number of altruistic egg donors is small enough that most large clinics either operate a wait list or rely on imported frozen eggs (6, 7).

Asian intended parents face the biggest mismatch between demand and supply. Around 17.4% of Australians have Asian ancestry (about 4.5 million people), led by Chinese (1.39 million), Indian (784,000), Filipino (409,000), Vietnamese (335,000), Nepalese (138,000), Korean (137,000), and Japanese (78,000) communities, according to the 2021 census (8). Despite this, the altruistic donor pool does not reflect that diversity. Recipients seeking an Asian donor are often told to wait, to consider a donor of mixed Asian background, or to look overseas. The matching wait for an egg donor of a specific Asian background can stretch from six to eighteen months (9). A widely-reported 2024 SBS feature followed a Chinese-Australian woman who, after three unsuccessful IVF cycles, was told that “the fact that I couldn’t have an Asian donor took a lot of processing” (10).

For these reasons, many Australian intended parents look overseas. About 75% of children born to Australian intended parents via surrogacy are born outside Australia (4, 5, 11). Residents of New South Wales, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory should proceed only with legal advice; commercial surrogacy overseas is a criminal offence (13, 14).

Is Egg Donation Legal in Australia?

Yes. Egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation, and altruistic surrogacy are all legal in Australia, provided they are non-commercial. The three principles that hold across the country are: only altruistic gamete and embryo donation is permitted; only altruistic surrogacy is permitted; and donor-conceived people generally have a right to identifying information about their donor when they turn 18 (21, 22).

There is no single national fertility law. Instead, third-party reproduction is governed by two federal Acts on cloning and embryo research, separate ART and surrogacy laws in five states and the ACT, the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Ethical Guidelines on the Use of Assisted Reproductive Technology in Clinical Practice and Research (the “ART Guidelines”, 2017, updated 2023), and the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee (RTAC) Code of Practice that every clinic must follow to keep its licence (20, 21, 22). At the federal level, the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 (Cth) and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 (Cth) make it unlawful for any non-RTAC-accredited centre to use human embryos and prohibit the trafficking of human reproductive material. Payment of anything more than reasonable expenses for eggs, sperm, or embryos can attract a maximum penalty of fifteen years’ imprisonment (20, 21).

At the state and territory level, the legal framework is in flux. Western Australia passed its Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Act 2025 on 3 December 2025, with commencement scheduled for mid-2027; the new law removes the last major Australian restriction that had blocked single men and same-sex couples from accessing surrogacy in any state (15, 16). South Australia opened up retrospective access to anonymous donor records under amendments that took effect on 26 February 2025 (17). The Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) closed on 31 December 2024, with the regulator role transferred to the Victorian Department of Health (18). And the Commonwealth Department of Health released a Rapid Review of Assisted Reproductive Technology and In Vitro Fertilisation Regulation and Accreditation in Australia in September 2025, which is now the basis of an active discussion about whether Australia should move to a national regulator instead of the existing patchwork (19). Queensland, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory do not have ART-specific statutes. In those jurisdictions, the NHMRC Guidelines and the RTAC Code of Practice provide guidelines (21, 22).

In 2025–2026, the Australian Law Reform Commission is conducting a national review of surrogacy laws, with submissions and consultation processes underway (56). Intended parents considering surrogacy in Australia, or considering going overseas from Australia, should obtain specialist legal advice early.

Availability of Donor Eggs, Sperm, and Embryos in Australia

Asian-Australian readers are the largest cohort by census share (about 4.5 million people, led by Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese ) but the altruistic donor pool does not reflect that diversity. Wait times for a donor of a specific Asian background commonly run from six to eighteen months; most clinics will discuss imported frozen eggs from accredited overseas banks as a faster alternative, subject to state import rules.

Donor eggs are scarce. Across Australia (and New Zealand) in 2023, only 2,492 oocyte-recipient and 1,026 oocyte-donation cycles were performed in accredited clinics, accounting for fewer than one in every forty IVF cycles (1). The Victorian Public Fertility Care service currently quotes a wait of around three years for access to its public donor egg bank, and even private clinics typically describe altruistic egg donors as “rare”, with matching times of six to eighteen months and much longer for donors of a specific ethnic background (9, 25). Many large clinics now operate through arrangements with overseas frozen-egg banks that comply with Australian altruistic-donation rules, but these still require clinic-to-clinic class import arrangements rather than direct purchases by individuals (6, 7). Several clinics now explicitly promote overseas-sourced clinic-recruited eggs as a faster alternative to the local waitlist (6, 26, 27).

There are three pathways to a donor in Australia:

• Clinic-recruited donors. Most large fertility clinics run their own programs for altruistic donors, both known and non-identified, drawing on locally recruited donors and (where allowed) overseas frozen-egg or frozen-sperm banks.

• Known donors. A friend or relative who agrees to donate eggs, sperm, or embryos can be brought into the clinic’s program. Counselling for both parties (separately and together) is required, and independent legal advice is required for the donor and the recipient. Western Australia’s Reproductive Technology Council, for example, requires a three-month cooling-off period for known donors (34).

• Imported donor gametes. Where local supply is tight, clinics may import donor sperm or eggs from accredited overseas banks under a “class import arrangement” between the clinic and the bank. Patients generally cannot buy gametes directly from a foreign bank for shipment to themselves (35, 36).

Donor sperm is similarly insufficient and often imported. Australia’s largest sperm bank has expressly stated “we can’t keep up with demand” (28, 29), with wait times reaching 9 months. Some clinics report that around half of its donated sperm comes from overseas banks (28). The New South Wales Ministry of Health issued guidance requiring clinics to strictly apply the five-family-per-donor limit on a worldwide basis (rather than just within NSW), which has practically prevented overseas sperm imports for NSW clinics for the foreseeable future (31, 32).

Practical note for NSW residents: NSW Health’s October 2025 guidance requires the five-family-per-donor limit to be applied worldwide, which has practically suspended overseas sperm imports for NSW clinics. An exemption applies for treatment already in progress or gametes/embryos in storage before 1 October 2025; confirm the current position with your clinic.

The NHMRC Guidelines limit each donor to ten families maximum, and donors can specify a lower limit if they wish (37, 38). State limits vary: Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland apply the ten-family limit; New South Wales and Western Australia apply a five-family limit; and the ACT’s Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2024 sets a five-family limit within the ACT, with a ten-family overall worldwide cap (38, 39, 40). Donors must be screened for relevant communicable diseases and genetic conditions and must give informed consent, including consent to release identifying information to any donor-conceived person who applies for it at 18 (21).

Egg Donor Reimbursement in Australia

Donors in Australia cannot be paid for their eggs, sperm, or embryos. They can be reimbursed for reasonable expenses such as travel, medical out-of-pockets, and lost earnings. There is no national fee schedule and the rules vary slightly by state, but the reimbursement is expense-based (41, 42). One IVF specialist who works with Australian patients pursuing overseas donation has described typical Australian reimbursements as running from around AUD $3,500 to $5,000 per cycle (43).

Paying anything beyond reasonable expenses is a serious offence. State human-tissue laws prohibit the sale of human eggs, sperm, and embryos, and the federal Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 makes trafficking of reproductive material punishable by up to fifteen years’ imprisonment (20). Buying or selling donor gametes online or through informal arrangements is therefore illegal (28, 41).

Anonymous, Open, and Known Donation in Australia

Australia has moved away from anonymous donation. Since November 2004, the NHMRC has required all Australian clinics to obtain a donor’s consent to the release of identifying information to any donor-conceived person who applies for it at 18 (44, 45). Several states have gone further by establishing central donor registers and, in some cases, by giving donor-conceived people retrospective access to information about donors who originally donated under anonymity:

• Victoria has had a Central Register since the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act 1984, and the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Amendment Act 2016 gave all donor-conceived Victorians the right to know their genetic heritage, regardless of when they were conceived. Management of the Central and Voluntary Registers transferred from VARTA to the Victorian Department of Health on 1 January 2025 (18, 46).

• New South Wales established a Central Register under the Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2007; donor-conceived people born from donations made on or after 1 January 2010 can apply for identifying information from age 18 (47).

• Western Australia has had a Reproductive Technology Council–administered register since 2004 under the Human Reproductive Technology Act 1991, with information available to donor-conceived people from age 16 (34, 45).

• South Australia established its Donor Conception Register in November 2021 and, under amendments that took effect on 26 February 2025, donor-conceived South Australians aged 18 and over can now access identifying information about their donor, including for donations made under conditions of anonymity before 2004 (44, 17).

• Queensland, Tasmania, the ACT, and the Northern Territory do not yet have central registers; access to donor information depends on the records held by the clinic where the donation took place, subject to the NHMRC Guidelines (45). The ACT’s Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2024 will introduce a register as further parts of the Act commence (40).

In practice, “known” donation by a friend, sister, brother, cousin, or other person already in the intended parents’ life has become an important pathway, partly because of the shortage of de-identified donors. In Victoria, patient-recruited known donors outnumber clinic-recruited donors (30). Known donations still need to be processed through an accredited clinic, with separate counselling for the donor and the recipient and independent legal advice before treatment can begin (21, 34).

Informal donation outside the clinic system — for example, when a sperm donor and recipient meet through a social-media group and proceed to home insemination — does happen, but it carries significant legal risk. In private arrangements, courts may later determine that a known sperm donor has parental rights and responsibilities (including child-support obligations), even if the parties have a written agreement to the contrary (48).

Import and Export of Gametes and Embryos

Cross-border movement of eggs, sperm, and embryos is one of the most complicated areas of Australian fertility law, because the rules are set state by state and the practical pathways depend heavily on the clinics involved. The summary below should be treated as a starting point for legal advice, not as a substitute for it.

Australian intended parents generally cannot order donor sperm or donor eggs directly from an overseas bank to themselves. The standard pathway is for a registered Australian fertility clinic to enter a “class import arrangement” with an overseas sperm or egg bank, under which the clinic imports gametes on behalf of a defined class of patients. Imported donor gametes must meet Australian requirements for screening, identity-release consent, donor family limits, and reimbursement of expenses, which means that overseas paid-donor material that doesn’t comply with these rules cannot be used in Australia (35, 36).

State-level rules vary:

• Victoria removed the previous requirement for prior VARTA approval of individual imports and exports on 1 January 2025; in its place, clinics and patients must provide a written certification to the Secretary for the Department of Health before donor material is moved into or out of the state (70, 71). The Victorian Secretary also declared Ukraine a prohibited source location effective 1 January 2025 (71).

• Western Australia continues to require approval from the Reproductive Technology Council for imports and exports, with significant changes expected when the ARTS Act 2025 commences in mid-2027 (34, 60).

• New South Wales issued new October 2025 guidance interpreting the five-family-per-donor limit on a worldwide basis, which has the practical effect of suspending most overseas sperm imports for NSW clinics for the foreseeable future. An exemption applies for patients with treatment already in progress or with gametes/embryos already in storage before 1 October 2025 (31, 32).

• Other jurisdictions follow the NHMRC Guidelines and the RTAC Code of Practice rather than state-specific approval processes.

Exporting a patient’s own frozen eggs, sperm, or embryos to a clinic in another country is generally possible, but must be done through an Australian clinic that has assessed the destination clinic and is satisfied that the export complies with state law. The RTAC Code of Practice prohibits the export of gametes or embryos for use in commercial surrogacy arrangements, and a clinic that participates in such an export risks losing its accreditation (72, 73). Where embryos were created using a donor’s eggs or sperm, additional consents from the donor or the donor’s clinic may be required, and the destination country’s donor-screening rules (such as the U.S. FDA’s Donor Eligibility Determination under 21 CFR Part 1271) need to be met (73).

Surrogacy in Australia

Surrogacy in Australia is legal, but it is harder than in almost any comparable country. Only altruistic surrogacy is permitted; commercial surrogacy is illegal everywhere; matching agencies are not part of the legal landscape. Three jurisdictions, New South Wales, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory, make it a criminal offence for their residents to enter a commercial surrogacy arrangement anywhere in the world (13, 14). To date, no Australian resident has been prosecuted for engaging in overseas commercial surrogacy, but the legal status of the child can become very uncertain. The surrogate (and her partner, if any) may remain the legal parent in Australian law, the intended parents may not be recognised as parents, and the only practical workaround may be parenting orders under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) or an adoption application (53, 54).

Each state has its own surrogacy law: the Surrogacy Act 2010 (NSW), the Surrogacy Act 2010 (Qld), the Surrogacy Act 2008(WA) (to be replaced by the Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Act 2025 in mid-2027), the Surrogacy Act 2012(Tas), the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 and Status of Children Act 1974 (Vic), the Surrogacy Act 2019 (SA), and Division 2.5 of the Parentage Act 2004 (ACT) (13, 23). The Northern Territory has no surrogacy-specific legislation. The requirements are broadly similar across the country: the arrangement must be altruistic; intended parents and the surrogate must have independent legal advice and counselling before any agreement is signed; a written surrogacy agreement is required, though it is generally not directly enforceable. The surrogate retains the right to decide whether to relinquish the child, and after birth, the intended parents must apply to a court for a parentage order to be recognised as the child’s legal parents (13, 50).

Residents of New South Wales, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory who enter a commercial surrogacy arrangement anywhere in the world — including in countries where commercial surrogacy is lawful — commit a criminal offence under their home state or territory’s law. To date no Australian resident has been prosecuted on these grounds, but the parentage of the child can become legally uncertain, and parenting orders under the Family Law Act 1975 may be the only practical workaround. Specialist legal advice is essential before signing any overseas surrogacy contract.

The Western Australian Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Act 2025, passed on 3 December 2025 and commencing in mid-2027, will significantly modernise the WA framework: it abolishes the requirement for prior Reproductive Technology Council approval before a surrogacy arrangement, removes the requirement to prove medical or social need, allows surrogacy for same-sex couples and single people, and permits intended parents and licensed clinics to advertise for a surrogate. The 18-month implementation period gives clinics time to adapt and the WA Department of Health time to publish detailed regulations (15, 55).

Can LGBTQIA+ Couples Pursue Egg Donation, Sperm Donation, or Surrogacy in Australia?

Yes. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Australia since December 2017, and around 4.4% of all IVF cycles in Australia are now undertaken by female–female intended parents (3). South Australia opened up IVF for same-sex couples and single lesbians in 2017 (57). Medicare rebate eligibility was formally expanded in April 2025 to remove restrictions based on relationship status, sexual orientation, or gender identity (58).

Can Single Women and Men Pursue Egg Donation, Sperm Donation, or Surrogacy in Australia?

Yes. Single women in Australia can freeze their eggs and can undergo IVF, IUI, and treatment with donor sperm; in 2023, approximately 14.6% of all IVF cycles in Australia and New Zealand were performed for single women (3).

How to Choose an IVF Clinic in Australia

There are around 93 RTAC-accredited fertility units operating in Australia, plus a small number of public fertility services (1, 22). See our guide and look for clinics that have:

• RTAC accreditation. The Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee, run by the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ), audits and licenses every accredited ART clinic in Australia. Independent certification bodies approved by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) perform the on-site audits against the RTAC Code of Practice (22, 59). Without RTAC accreditation, a clinic cannot lawfully use human embryos under the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 (20).

• State licensing. In Victoria, NSW, SA, and WA, clinics must also be registered or licensed under the relevant state ART law and overseen by the state regulator. In Victoria, that is now the Department of Health’s Health Regulator branch (formerly VARTA, which closed on 31 December 2024); in WA, the Reproductive Technology Council (to be reconstituted under the 2025 reforms) (18, 60).

• Success rates. ANZARD, run by the National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit at UNSW, collects data from all clinics and publishes annual report. These are widely regarded as among the most rigorous national ART statistics in the world (1, 61). The government-funded YourIVFSuccess website lets patients compare clinic-level success rates and includes a personalised success estimator. Note that around 6% of ART units have opted out of clinic-level public reporting on YourIVFSuccess (19).

• Specialist credentials. Doctors providing fertility care in Australia must be registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Specialists in this area are usually Fellows of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) with a Certificate of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (CREI).

Counseling and Legal Advice for Intended Parents in Australia

Australia has a small but well-developed specialist bar of fertility and surrogacy lawyers, and counselling is built into the regulatory framework. Under the NHMRC ART Guidelines and the RTAC Code of Practice, donors, intended parents, and surrogates are all required to receive counselling  before treatment proceeds, and counsellors from the Australian and New Zealand Infertility Counsellors Association (ANZICA) work within most accredited clinics (21, 22, 74). Many intended parents choose to engage an additional counsellor independent of their clinic, both for ongoing support and (where they have specific ethnic, language, or cultural needs) to find someone with relevant expertise.

For legal advice, intended parents can find specialist fertility and surrogacy lawyers through Surrogacy Australia, the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand, and state law society referral services. Every state requires independent legal advice for both intended parents and the surrogate before any surrogacy agreement is signed (13). Engage a lawyer who specialises in third party reproduction.

Average Costs of IVF with Donor Eggs or Sperm in Australia

Australia does not subsidise IVF, but Medicare (the public health system) reimburses a share of fertility-treatment costs for Australian Medicare cardholders.

For a standard IVF cycle using the patient’s own gametes:

• The standard Medicare rebate is approximately AUD $3,720.70 for an initial cycle and AUD $3,486.25 for subsequent cycles in the same calendar year (62, 63).

• Once a patient’s out-of-pocket expenses exceed the Extended Medicare Safety Net threshold (around AUD $2,615.50 in 2025), Medicare pays 80% of the schedule fee for further out-of-hospital expenses for the rest of the calendar year, which can substantially reduce the cost of subsequent cycles (62, 63).

• Out-of-pocket costs after rebate are typically around AUD $5,000–7,000 per initial IVF cycle, depending on the clinic and on whether ICSI or PGT-A is added; frozen embryo transfers usually cost AUD $2,000–4,500 out of pocket (64, 65).

• New South Wales offers a state IVF rebate of up to AUD $2,000 per eligible patient on top of Medicare; other states have varying public-clinic options (66).

For donor IVF specifically:

• Donor sperm typically costs around AUD $500–2,000 per vial when imported.

• Donor-egg IVF cycles in Australia typically range from around AUD $5,000 to AUD $30,000 depending on the clinic, whether eggs are fresh or frozen, whether the donor is local or sourced through an overseas frozen-egg bank, and what reimbursement the donor receives (43, 67).

• Medicare rebates for donor programs are only available where a clear medical reason for treatment is documented; intended parents should confirm with their clinic which rebates apply (68).