Row 03 of 05Register
Donor registers by state, read from an egg donor’s side
Five states keep a register of donor information under an Act: New South Wales (s 32A), Victoria (s 53), Queensland (s 42), Western Australia (s 45) and South Australia (s 15). In each, the law has the clinic or licensee send the details in. NSW Health tells people who have donated since 1 January 2010 that they do not have to take any action for their information to be recorded.
- NSWs 32A
- VICs 53
- QLDs 42
- WAs 45
- SAs 15
- TASNot in these sources
- ACTNot in these sources
- NTNot in these sources
Filled: a register set up by the state’s Act. Open: none in the official sources this site draws on, which is not the same as none at all.
General information, not legal or medical advice. The keeper of each register, linked in the table below, is the place to check what it holds about you.
Registers
The registers, place by place
| Place | Register | Kept by | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Central Register | NSW Ministry of Health | Holds information about donors and about children conceived with donated gametes after 1 January 2010, with voluntary entries for earlier donations. |
| VIC | Central Register | The Donor Conception Registrar, Department of Health | The official government record of donor conception treatment in Victoria, explained in full by Victoria’s Department of Health. |
| QLD | Donor conception information register | The registrar under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2023 | Queensland Health places it in stage 3 of the new Act’s staged start, throughout 2026. |
| WA | Registers of identity | The CEO named in the Act | In operation since 1993, with significant changes in 2004; HealthyWA’s Donor Conception Information Service gives access to information for people involved in donor conception through a WA clinic. |
| SA | Donor Conception Register | The Minister | A secure online portal, made publicly accessible by changes that took effect on 26 February 2025. |
| TAS | Not in these sources | Not in these sources | This site’s sources hold no register for Tasmania. |
| ACT | Not in these sources | Not in these sources | This site’s sources hold no register for the ACT. |
| NT | Not in these sources | Not in these sources | This site’s sources hold no register for the Northern Territory. |
The record
What a donor’s record holds
Each Act sets out its own contents, and the lists differ.
South Australia
Section 15(2) of the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 1988 says the register “must contain, in relation to each donor on the register, the following information (if known):”
- “the donor’s full name and nominated contact address”
- “the full name and nominated contact address of the person to whom assisted reproductive treatment using the donor’s human reproductive material was provided”
- “the full name of any child born as a consequence of such assisted reproductive treatment”
- “information provided under section 15B”
- “any other information required by the regulations”.
New South Wales
NSW Health lists what donors must give their provider for the Central Register. Its list begins with full name, residential address, and date and place of birth, then ethnicity and physical characteristics. That is a selection: the Central Register page gives the whole list, which goes on to medical history and genetic test results.
Queensland
Section 44(2) of the Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2024 lists the “relevant information” for the register. Among it are “the donor’s full name” and “the donor’s date and place of birth”; the Act sets out the rest.
Removal
Whether anything can be taken off
New South Wales draws a clear line between two kinds of entry. NSW Health says mandatory information, the details a provider was required to send, must stay on the Central Register and cannot be removed. Information a donor gave voluntarily can be removed by notifying the NSW Ministry of Health in writing, and consent to its release can be revoked or varied at any time by notifying the Secretary in writing.
For the other states, this site’s sources do not say whether a donor can remove an entry.
Retention
How long clinics keep the records
- NSWNSW Health says the Act and Regulation require providers to keep records for 50 years, and pre-2010 records for 75 years. NSW Health notes that destroying or falsifying ART records is an offence.
- SASA Health says the changed law requires clinics to keep donor conception records forever.
- WADirection 2.2 of the Directions: “A licensee must retain the original records indefinitely.”
- QLDQueensland Health says providers’ records about people who provide sperm or eggs cannot be destroyed without its approval.
Interstate records
When a donation crosses a state line
Records follow the place, not the person. SA Health says records “about donor conception treatments and birth registrations are held by the state or territory where the treatment was conducted, or a birth is registered”. Where eggs, sperm or embryos moved between states, it says South Australia’s register may not have the treatment records, or the identity of donor-conceived people whose births were registered elsewhere.
Earlier donors
Donations made before the registers
New South Wales’ Central Register runs from 1 January 2010, when its Act began, with a voluntary register for people born before then. NSW Health encourages people who donated before that date to register their details and consent to release, so that people conceived from their donation can access it if they register too. Who may then see a donor’s name, and when, is a separate rule: Who can learn a donor’s identity sets it out state by state, and the donor limits page covers how many women or families a donation may reach.
Every row sits on the comparison sheet.