Allow commercial surrogacy in Aust: judge

Commercial surrogacy should be legalised in Australia to protect the rights of children and stop the exploitation of women in poorer countries, a family court justice says.

Family Court chief justice Diana Bryant is calling for bans on commercial surrogacy to be lifted to allow for tighter controls of the industry.

Her comments come after a West Australian couple were accused of abandoning a twin infant with down syndrome in Thailand, while returning to Australia with his healthy sister.

Thailand has since banned commercial surrogacy.

Chief Justice Bryant said the Australian government should impose stricter rules on international surrogacy - an option desperate parents are turning to in lieu of commercial surrogacy in Australia.

"You can't pretend the technology is not there and you can't pretend there aren't perfectly good, reasonable people who will give a child a wonderful life, who don't have a desperate desire to have a baby," she told News Corp Australia.

She says the rules applied to international adoption should be applied to surrogacy.