29 Jul 2011 - 11:53pm
A convicted sex offender's wife will be allowed to undergo IVF treatment only if he completes counselling.
In what's been termed an Australian first, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has overturned a ban which had prevented the man and his partner from accessing IVF because he is a convicted sex offender.
In a two-to-one majority decision handed down on Friday, the tribunal ruled that there was no barrier to the man's wife undergoing IVF treatment.
But the tribunal imposed a condition that the 33-year-old man, identified as ABY for legal reasons, complete 12 counselling sessions for sex offenders before his wife has access to the treatment.
VCAT president Justice Iain Ross and member Dr Elaine Fabris said ABY's risk of reoffending generally was low and there was no cogent evidence to suggest he posed a risk of sexually offending against his biological child.
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