Latest news with #Bendigo
ABC News
16 hours ago
- General
- ABC News
Debate grows over Australia's surrogacy laws as couples go overseas to find a baby
For Daniel and Michael Montgomery-Morgan, becoming parents wasn't easy. It took four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring their daughter Spencer into the world. "We really questioned whether we're meant to be parents. It's not a quick process," Daniel said. Spencer, now seven months old, was born via a surrogate in Canada. "We didn't expect it would take us four years to have Spencer in our arms. [There were] lots of different things that we needed to do to accommodate the financial aspect of it." After initially looking in Australia, the couple had to go abroad to find their surrogate. "Unfortunately, we had three failed transfers, so we had to start again after two years of trying to have a baby," Michael said. He said there were multiple times when they wished their surrogate was in Australia. "When you're going through such an emotional journey … it's human nature to want to connect," Michael said. "That was a challenge for us and that's what was missing with us not being able to do this like we wanted to in Australia." For Bendigo couple Josh Paredes and Michael Vallejos, their one-year-old surrogate baby Elijah Miguel Parades-Vallejos was a miracle. "Elijah is the love of our life. He is the blessing from above. We are very thankful," Mr Vallejos said. Some of the Filipino couple's gratitude is for close friend Helyn Joy Lagman, who offered to carry their baby after one round of IVF. "We initially thought she was joking, so we ignored it. It took her three offers, then we thought, oh, she is actually serious," Mr Vallejos said. Ms Lagman already had two children of her own and said surrogacy was something she had always wanted to do and had offered to others. "I really wanted to bring something good to the world," she said. A growing number of Australian couples are going overseas to find a surrogate. According to the Australia and New Zealand Assisted Reproduction Database, 131 surrogacy babies were born in Australia and New Zealand in 2022. People working in the sector say the number could be higher. According to the Department of Home Affairs, 361 children born through international surrogacy arrangements acquired Australian citizenship in 2023-24, up from 222 in 2021-22. In Australia, commercial surrogacy — when a surrogate is paid — is illegal. Every state and territory has different laws relating to surrogacy but they all allow altruistic surrogacy, which means the surrogate's expenses are covered but no other profit or payment is made. According to the Department of Home Affairs, the United States is the most popular country for Australian couples to source surrogates, followed by Georgia, Canada, Colombia, Ukraine and Mexico. The Australian Law Review Commission is reviewing the nation's surrogacy laws and will consider how to reduce barriers to domestic altruistic surrogacy arrangements in Australia. Surrogacy lawyer Sarah Jefford believes commercial surrogacy should be allowed in Australia. "Everyone else is paid, including the lawyers, the counsellors and the clinicians," she said. Ms Jefford, who has been a surrogate, wants Australia's "patchwork" surrogacy laws managed under federal legislation. "I think uniform laws are crucial for making it more accessible but also making sure we don't have medical tourism within our own country," she said. However, some researchers and legal groups believe commercial surrogacy is unethical. Margaret Somerville, a professor of bioethics and law at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, has researched surrogacy for decades. She said allowing commercial surrogacy in Australia would inevitably lead to exploitation. "The women who become a surrogate, they'll do it because they need the money," she said. In 2023, at a surrogacy clinic in Greece used by Australians, police arrested senior staff on charges of human trafficking, falsifying records and mistreating hundreds of women who had agreed to act as surrogates. Ten years earlier, commercial surrogacy laws in India were reversed after the discovery of so-called baby farms where 100 women were housed together for the duration of their pregnancies. A snap ban on commercial surrogacy was announced in Cambodia in 2016, resulting in the arrest of Australian nurse Tammy Davis-Charles and two Khmer associates. Ms Somerville acknowledges growing demand for surrogates, but fears introducing commercial surrogacy to Australia would put vulnerable women and children at further risk. "It's like slavery," she said. The Australian Law Reform Commission's (ALRC) review is considering issues like the complexity of surrogacy arrangements, inconsistencies in legislation and barriers to accessing surrogacy and gaining Australian citizenship for babies born abroad. This month, Queensland police confirmed they would not lay charges against a Brisbane couple who entered a $140,000 commercial surrogacy arrangement with an overseas company. Inquiries into the regulation and legislation of international and domestic surrogacy arrangements, including a 2016 House of Representatives standing committee, recommended commercial surrogacy remain illegal. New South Wales and South Australian reviews in 2018 also supported continued prohibition. The ALRC is taking submissions for its review of surrogacy laws until mid-July. The Montgomery-Morgans would love to see surrogacy become more accessible in Australia so more couples can become parents. "I think commercial surrogacy does have a place, with the right governance and controls," Daniel said. But they would want safeguards to prevent exploitation. "I would hate to see people exploited," he said. "There is a real risk of that."
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Best bets and value play for Bendigo races Thursday
Form expert Brad Waters analyses Thursday's Bendigo meeting, presenting his best bets, value selection and jockey to follow.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Former Australian Idol star Kate DeAraugo explains how winning the show fuelled her drug addiction
Australian Idol winner Kate DeAraugo has opened up about how winning the third series of the enduring reality TV singing competition fuelled and funded her drug addiction. The Australian Idol 2005 winner, 39, found herself at rock bottom in 2017 after pleading guilty to possessing crystal meth, drug driving and weapons offences. Avoiding conviction, the star was placed on a community corrections order and has since made every effort to rehabilitate herself and transform her life. She is now seven years sober from the highly addictive drug, and is opening up about her experience to help others struggling with addiction. 'Do I blame winning Australian Idol for my drug addiction? I will say that it probably gave me the means to use way more drugs and create a bigger habit quicker than I would have – had I just been a normal 18-year-old doing normal 18-year-old things,' the singer said on TikTok. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'But do I blame them for my addiction?' Kate asked rhetorically in the video posted on Saturday. 'I can't. I was an addict way before any of that,' she said. The Bendigo-born star admitted she engaged in 'heaps of other really unhealthy and unmanageable behaviours,' from a really young age. 'Starting with food,' she said. Kate has previously spoken about the binge eating disorder which she suffered throughout her high school years. Speaking on her own podcast Why Do I Feel This Way? in 2023, Kate said she began to engage in binge eating from the age of five. 'That was my first way of regulating those emotions and those out of control feelings of not being comfortable in my skin.' Kate was the third ever winner of Australian Idol. Kate said that she 'wasn't introduced to drugs properly until after the show happened.' 'That is where my addiction really took off, but I truly believe that it would have happened one way or another,' she said. 'So as easy as it would be to blame Australian Idol and/or the music industry for my addiction, I just can't because I don't believe that's true.' After winning Idol, Kate signed to SONY BMG records and released her debut single Maybe Tonight in November 2005. The single debuted at No.1 on the ARIA charts and went platinum, as did the singer's debut album, A Place I've Never Been. She went on to join the multi-platinum selling Australian girl group The Young Divas, alongside fellow Idol stars Ricki-Lee Coulter, Paulini, Emily Williams, and Jessica Mauboy, before disbanding in 2008. 'Despite what some people may think I actually don't blame anyone,' Kate added in the video caption. 'I'm five years clean and sober,' she previously told Shannon Noll's Idol Talking podcast in 2023, as she marked the sobriety milestone. 'Addiction is a topic that should be talked about really openly and I think still in this country we are not very educated about it,' Kate said. 'My life went on a bit of a left field journey and I did some things and went some places that I never wanted to, or did not intend to, but it is just where life led me.' 'Coming back from that, having to really turn around and stop and look at yourself and look at your life and take responsibility for your life decisions is probably the hardest and most terrifying thing I have ever done,' she added. Kate says she realised her life had to change after catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror one day. 'I was bone thin, my face was messed up and I was alone. And I looked at myself and thought, "Who are you?" Call it a moment of sanity or divine intervention, but I knew … if things didn't change, I was going to die.' She called her mum, who took her home. A month later, she used drugs for the last time and has now been off narcotics for more than seven years.
News.com.au
5 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Vets advised owners to put down Dandruff but brave galloper continues to thrive for trainer Toby Lake
Dandruff didn't win at Wagga on Sunday, but the Bendigo galloper ticked off a major milestone for a horse that wasn't expected to live long, let alone race as a six-year-old. The Toby Lake -trained Dandruff broke through the $100,000 prizemoney threshold with his third placing in a 2000m race at Wagga, something the stable never thought would happen. Luck deserted Dandruff as a young horse when multiple infections racked his facial structure, requiring surgeries just to save his life. Racing wasn't a thought as vets initially thought their efforts to keep Dandruff alive would fail. 'He should be dead, this horse,' Lake said. 'He's had two sinus operations, and he's got a big chunk of bone missing out of his face. 'It was all infected and he had a bone infection as well. 'He also had a bit of bone sticking out. 'After a couple of operations, the vet advised the owners to put him down.' Thankfully Lake and Dandruff's owners didn't immediately take veterinary advice. Instead, they decided to let the gelding relax in a paddock while they worked out what to do with the son of Written Tycoon. However, Mother Nature had a surprise in store for Lake a few months later. • Richard Callander: Yes, the Brits do racing well … but not as well as us 'Anyway, we just went back to nature, and he went out into the paddock with some young horses for about six months and we just forgot about him,' Lake said. 'We went out to the farm when the six months was done, and he trotted up to us in the paddock and his face had healed. 'It had all healed over. Sometimes time just heals everything. 'We brought him back into work and he's been a great money-spinner ever since.' Dandruff showed staying ability in his first few starts before achieving what was thought impossible a year earlier when he posted his maiden win in emphatic fashion at Swan Hill in April last year. "Dandruff is head & shoulders above its opposition." Poetry from Adam O to start the day 🎙ï¸� @TLakeRacing @chookahope — (@Racing) April 9, 2024 While not being a world beater, Dandruff posted a second win at Swan Hill last year and victories at Ararat and Albury this year. 'He's just been an honest old horse and a few more of them would be great for any stable,' Lake said. 'He's earned everything he's got. 'He's tough and he's brave.' Lake said Dandruff has attracted his own following as he travels from his Bendigo base to tracks in Victoria and southern New South Wales. There's a great story behind all of them, but this horse has been amazing. 'He's got a little bit of a cult following on the country circuit,' Lake said. 'Every time we're at the races, everyone is asking about him. 'He's just a ripper that old horse.' — (@Racing) March 27, 2025 Punters can expect to see Dandruff on a wet track in the coming weeks. 'We've been waiting for wet ground and now the rain has come, there's plenty of options for him,' Lake said. 'He doesn't take much work between runs, but we're sort of weather-dependent with him.'
Finextra
5 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
Former Bendigo and Adelaide Bank CEO Marnie Baker joins FinTech Australia board
FinTech Australia today announced the appointment of prominent banking leader Marnie Baker to its board as a Non-Executive Director, adding notable leadership and policy expertise to the peak body's strategic direction. 0 Baker is the former CEO and Managing Director of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, current member of the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) Monetary Policy Board, and a director of the Regional Australia Institute and Australian Retirement Trust. She also previously served as Deputy Chair of the Australian Banking Association. Her appointment marks a significant boost to FinTech Australia's engagement capabilities at a time when regulatory, economic and digital forces are reshaping the financial services sector. FinTech Australia Chair Sarah Gorman added: 'Marnie has chased impact and positive change in the banking ecosystem her entire career. Her joining our board is a huge point of validation for the fintech industry, its impact to date and its broader goals. Her guidance will lend a new level of expertise to our organisation, in turn helping our members as they face complex funding and policy challenges. The appointment is both a significant milestone for FinTech Australia and also the fintech industry.' Commenting on her appointment, incoming non-executive board FinTech Australia board member Marnie Baker said: 'I've long admired the energy and innovation coming from Australia's fintech community. Joining FinTech Australia is a chance to contribute to its future and help shape a more inclusive and competitive financial services ecosystem. FinTech Australia's board also acknowledged the continued contributions of existing board member Cathryn Lyall, who will remain until September before transitioning to an advisory role. Baker's appointment comes at a critical juncture for the fintech industry. In its March 2025 pre-budget submission, FinTech Australia warned of a 'two-speed' fintech ecosystem, citing a 14% drop in deal volumes and a disproportionate focus on established players.
