Ms Celia Loftus:

The difficulty for the Legislature would be a retrospective element. We do not agree with that. It is absolutely possible to allow for privacy by allowing a mother or an adopted person the right to veto the information or contact. That can be done without having a constitutional referendum. It has been done in Alberta, Canada, and it has worked for the past ten years. We are very aware that a number of birth mothers would not veto that contact, but we also know from case law that some people would do so. There is a charter in Alberta, as opposed to a constitution, and it held a public vote. All the people wanted privacy for birth mothers or adopted people if they wanted it and information for adopted people. We do not need another referendum to tell us that, and we can legislate for both.