Prime Minister Tony Abbott has moved to hose down expectations about what the federal government can do in response to the case of baby Gammy, saying he will not rush to make changes to surrogacy laws.
Amid different versions of whether or not Gammy was abandoned by his biological parents, Mr Abbott stressed that surrogacy laws have ''traditionally'' been a state matter.
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''I am not someone who naturally wants the Commonwealth to be jumping all over things that are state responsibilities,'' he told Channel Seven on Wednesday.
While he has described Gammy's situation as ''tragic'' and ''difficult'', he said that there were ''lots of people that are there to help''.
''The difficulty with the law in a situation like this is that the law can often make complex, difficult and very personal situations worse and so I am in no hurry to rush legislatively into this particular situation,'' he said.
Mr Abbott also noted that all Australian states criminalise commercial surrogacy and that some states have criminalised going overseas for commercial surrogacy.
''It seems that this may be a legal issue in Thailand as well, and my advice to people is don't do anything that's illegal,'' he said.
Mr Abbott's comments come after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop asked her department to work with the Attorney-General's and Immigration Departments to come up with a federal government response to the case of baby Gammy.
Ms Bishop said the three departments were ''considering what response the Australian government should provide'' to the ''tragic situation''.
''We're looking at it from every angle, in terms of foreign affairs, immigration and the Attorney-General's office,'' she told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
An inter-departmental committee met for the first time on Monday and it is understood it will look at both particular issues in the case of Gammy and broader issues relating the international commercial surrogacy.
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said that it was important that the federal government worked with states and territories to ensure that surrogacy was not commercialised "in a way that allows vulnerable young women . . . to be exploited".
Ms Plibersek said on Wednesday that if the Abbott government was interested in developing a national approach, "we would look at that on its merits".
"I don't think the problem is different laws in different states, I think the problem is unscrupulous organisations overseas that get into the business of babies to make a profit," she told reporters in Sydney.
"I think in addition, we have got a problem in this individual case of a couple who have made a decision that, frankly, I can't understand and I think most Australians would have trouble understanding."
