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The Weekly can reveal that the PM took time out of his busy tour to discuss their shared passion to find loving homes for children who need them so desperately.
An Adoption Awareness spokesman tells The Weekly: “Tony Abbott told Deborra-lee about the six countries he is speaking to right now, in an attempt to open up their adoption programs. So they were filling each other in about updates and how their work is going.”
They can’t reveal the six new countries, but this is in the wake of the South African adoption program opening up to Australia.
Deborra-lee shares two adopted children with her husband Hugh Jackman and has long crusaded for adoption law changes – and she has a close ally in Mr Abbott, who is proving he’s firmly behind reform.
“In the meeting, Mr Abbott talked Deborra-lee through how the legislation is being reformed, one step at a time.”
It was just last December that Hugh and Deborra-lee met Mr Abbott at Kirribilli House to discuss the issue.
Mr Abbott declared then he wants to make it “much much easier” for Australian couples to adopt children from overseas.
“There are millions of children in orphanages overseas who would love to have parents,” Mr Abbott had said at Kirribilli House. “And thousands of those, maybe even tens of thousands of those could come to Australia.
“And we need to make it easier for that to happen.”
Mr Abbott had said that “for too long, adoption has been in the too-hard basket”.
“For too long it has been too hard to adopt and for too long this has been a policy no-go zone,” he said. “That must change . . . And it will change within 12 months.”
Only about 340 children were adopted in Australia last year, including about 130 from overseas. There are about 18,000 children in foster care in NSW.
