Yes Ministers, That's My Daddy
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday December 4, 2007
ISABELLA CONROY is officially daddy's little girl.
Until now her parents have kept her out of the spotlight, but yesterday she was at the swearing in of the Rudd Government. Isabella is the daughter of the new Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy, who was formally recognised by the courts as his daughter's father in August. Paula Benson, Isabella's mother in every sense other than the biological one, will have to adopt her to gain legal recognition as her mother because Victorian law maintains that her legal mother is the woman who gave birth to her. Senator Conroy and Ms Benson - who was unable to conceive naturally - travelled to NSW to have Isabella through surrogacy arrangements because the law in their home state of Victoria makes legal surrogacy all but impossible. Isabella was born in Sydney in November last year after an egg donated by a family friend was fertilised by Senator Conroy and carried in the womb of another close friend, believed to be the first time such an arrangement has taken place in Australia. Senator Conroy has promised to fight to have Victoria's fertility laws changed so that other couples do not have to face the same complicated legal battles, expense and emotional upheaval as his family. The official swearing in of the new ministry was as much a family occasion as an official one, and Isabella sat in the drawing room of Government House with the other sons and daughters of the new ministers and parliamentary secretaries. She did what most one-year-olds who have to sit still and keep quiet do - she fidgeted until her mother took her out.
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald