Comparison sheet8 places, 5 rules
Egg donation in Australia, read across eight jurisdictions
In Australia it is an offence under a Commonwealth law to give or offer, or to receive or offer to receive, valuable consideration for the supply of a human egg, and the payment of a donor’s reasonable expenses is not counted as valuable consideration. Beyond that, the laws on donor conception vary, SA Health notes, with each state and territory administering these services in line with the NHMRC’s ethical guidelines.
General information, not medical or legal advice. This site is not a clinic, offers no treatment, and names no clinic, doctor or donor bank.
The law is the place to check: the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 for the whole country, and each state’s own Act, linked from the guide that uses it.
The sheet
Five rules, eight places
This site lays each rule out the way a comparison sheet would: a column for every state and territory, a row for every rule an egg donor meets. Where the official sources it draws on hold no rule for a place, the cell stays open and says so, rather than guessing.
| Rule | NSW | VIC | QLD | WA | SA | TAS | ACT | NT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payment | Commonwealth Act s 21 | Commonwealth Act s 21 | Commonwealth Act s 21 | Commonwealth Act s 21, and WA Act s 53Q | Commonwealth Act s 21 | Commonwealth Act s 21 | Commonwealth Act s 21 | Commonwealth Act s 21 |
| Donor limit | 5 women, s 27, with exceptions | 10 women, s 29, with exceptions | 10 donor-related Australian families, s 25, where the provider knew a use would go over it or did not check with due diligence; one exception | 5 recipient families unless the Council approves, Directions 8.1 | Not in these sources | Not in these sources | Not in these sources | Not in these sources |
| Register | Central register, s 32A | Central Register, s 53 | Donor conception information register, s 42 | Registers of identity, s 45 | Donor conception register, s 15 | Not in these sources | Not in these sources | Not in these sources |
| Counselling | Available to donors, s 12 | Before a donor consents, s 18 | Before donation, s 15 | Information for donors, Directions 5.7 | Not in these sources | Not in these sources | Not in these sources | Not in these sources |
| Identity | Disclosure to adult offspring, s 37 | Disclosure to donor-conceived applicants, s 59 | Applications to the registrar, s 48 | May be given at 16, after approved counselling, subject to s 49(2e) | Donor’s name and date of birth, Regulations r 13 | Not in these sources | Not in these sources | Not in these sources |
Guides
Each row, read in full
- 01Egg donation and payment
Section 21 of the Commonwealth Act, what counts as valuable consideration and as reasonable expenses, and what the NHMRC’s guidelines add.
- 02Donor limits by state
Five women in New South Wales, ten in Victoria, ten families in Queensland, Western Australia’s Directions, and the places where no number appears.
- 03Donor registers by state
Which register holds a donor’s details, what goes on it, whether any of it can be removed, and how long records are kept.
- 04Consent and counselling for egg donors
Counselling before donating, consent in writing, and the point after which a donor’s consent can no longer be changed.
- 05Who can learn a donor’s identity
When a donor-conceived person can learn a donor’s name, state by state, and what the national guidelines have asked of clinics since 2004.
Law and guidelines
Two kinds of rule
The rules on this site come in two kinds, and each guide says which is which. Some are law: an Act of Parliament, a regulation made under it, or in Western Australia the Human Reproductive Technology Directions 2021, which set duties for licensees there. Others come from the NHMRC’s ethical guidelines, which speak to clinics rather than to donors. In South Australia, among the conditions the Minister must impose on a registered provider is one requiring it to comply with those guidelines (regulation 8(2)(a)).
The Commonwealth Act sits across all of them. It says it is not intended to exclude any state law that can operate alongside it, so a state can add its own rule, as Western Australia does with its own offence for trading in eggs. The payment guide sets both out.
This site
What this site is
eggdonation.com.au is a guide to the law, published by Dotto from Acts, regulations and the pages of state health departments and the NHMRC. It is not a clinic and offers no treatment. It does not ask anyone to donate, and it offers nothing in return for donating. Section 21(3) of the Commonwealth Act counts “any inducement, discount or priority in the provision of a service” to the person supplying the egg as valuable consideration, but not the payment of reasonable expenses incurred in connection with the supply.
Every source is listed at the foot of the page that uses it, and each guide names the official place to check before relying on anything here.