Australian state to remove babies for protection

SYDNEY, Oct 24 (Reuters) Child welfare authorities in the Australia's most populous state will be able to forcibly take custody of babies at birth, if the parents have a history of abusing siblings, under planned new welfare laws.

The legislation, introduced into the New South Wales (NSW) state parliament today, was immediately criticised by legal and child welfare bodies as a breach of civil liberties and an erosion of the presumption of innocence.

Nine children died in NSW in 2005 after siblings were removed from dangerous homes, Community Services Minister Reba Meagher said before tabling the legislation in parliament in Sydney.

Meagher said ''parents who are considered suspicious people in the death of a child'' will have subsequent children removed at birth. ''The burden of proof will be on the parents to demonstrate that the risk of harm has been removed,'' she told local radio.

Parents of abused children will need to prove they had successfully undertaken drug and alcohol programmes, anger management programmes, or better parenting programmes.

Meagher said the new laws when passed would be an Australian first and she believed a world first.

The NSW Law Society said the laws would set a dangerous precedent. ''It shifts the onus of proof and removes the presumption of innocence and that is what causes us concern,' said society president June McPhee.

Andrew McCallum from the Association of Child Welfare Agencies said he understood the need to act quickly when children may be at risk but said the laws would eroded civil liberties.

''It is a monumental leap to change the burden of proof, which is something that doesn't occur in other legal jurisdiction,'' he said.

REUTERS SY SSC1024