Western Australia's lower house approves cloning legislation

Western Australia has passed legislation that provides for the cloning of human embryos in stem cell research. The bill was passed in a conscience vote held in Australia's largest state's Lower House by 26 votes to 16 and will now be debated in the Upper House before it can become law. The bill also allows for research using spare embryos following IVF treatment. If passed, it will enact at state level federal provisions passed last year permitting scientists to use CNR (cell nuclear replacement) - so called 'therapeutic cloning' - in human embryo stem cell research.

Both Victoria and New South Wales have enacted legislation to mirror federal law that allows scientists to clone embryos for use in stem cell research. Australia's Federal Parliament decided last December to allow therapeutic cloning despite the Prime Minister, John Howard, expressing his opposition to such research. The Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment Act 2006 were passed amid much controversy, and emotive Parliamentary debates featured personal testimonies from MPs with relatives suffering from diseases they hoped might be treated using potential medical breakthroughs from stem cell research. Although Australian scientists were then able to apply for licences to the National Health and Medical Research Council to carry out CNR, it remained up to individual states to legislate for permitting scientists to use their research facilities.

Prior to the vote in Western Australia, Perth's Archbishop, Barry Hickey, came under fire for threatening to reassess the nature of the relationship between Catholic MPs and the Church, should they choose to support the legislation. Fred Riebeling, the Speaker of the House, intervened and warned the Archbishop that he could face contempt of Parliament for his comments. The Catholic Church had previously faced criticism during the cloning debates in New South Wales when Sydney's Archbishop, George Pell, was accused of improper influence in the run-up to the state's conscience vote on almost identical legislation, when he threatened to refuse Holy Communion to Catholic MPs who voted in favour of overturning the then present ban.