Another Aussie couple reject surrogate baby

Surrogate mother Pattharamon Janbua claims the biological father refused to touch or look at Gammy. Picture / AP

A judge says an Australian couple rejected their biological child born to an Indian surrogate mother because of the baby's gender, but they took home its twin sibling.

News of the case, dating back to 2012, follows a recent furore over an Australian couple that left behind a disabled twin born to a Thai surrogate mother that prompted a ban on commercial surrogacy in Thailand.

Australian Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant told the ABC today she didn't know the gender of the rejected baby.

"They already had one sex and they didn't want the other child. I don't know whether it was a boy or a girl," she said.

Justice Bryant said the Australian High Commission in New Delhi delayed giving the Australian parents a visa while they tried to persuade them to take both children.

The ABC said sources told them there was concern a senior federal politician had been advocating on behalf of the Australian parents.

Former Australian foreign ministers Bob Carr and Kevin Rudd said they did not recall dealing with the case two years ago.

Mr Carr, a former Labor MP who was foreign minister from March 2012 until September 2013, said he made no calls to the Australian High Commission in India about a surrogacy case.

He said he didn't recall surrogacy coming up in terms of the bilateral relationship between Australia and India.

His predecessor, Mr Rudd, was also apparently not involved.

A spokesman for Mr Rudd told the ABC that representatives of his office from the time were not familiar with the case.

Federal Circuit Court Chief Judge John Pascoe has called for a national inquiry into surrogacy.

He told the ABC that the Family Court and Federal Court had been left to deal with a process that did not have appropriate legislation in place.

"I am really concerned that this issue has not received the attention it properly deserves," he said.

The most recent case follows the abandonment of baby Gammy by his Australian parents in Thailand, after the child was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

Comment was being sought from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

- AP/AAP