Chief Justice of the Family Court Diana Bryant has called for a national inquiry into the surrogacy industry, following claims consular officials knew of an Australian surrogate baby abandoned by its parents in India in 2012.

An investigation by Foreign Correspondent claims the baby, which was born in a set of twins, was left in India because the Australian parents allegedly only wanted one child.

• Explainer: how the surrogacy industry works
• New Thai surrogacy scandal

Chief Justice Bryant said she was told about the case by Australian High Commission officials in New Delhi at the time of the incident.

“They told me the surrogate mother had given birth to twins and the Australian couple only wanted one of the children,” Chief Justice Bryant said.

It is understood officials in New Delhi worked to convince the parents to return to Australia with both children, including delaying visa arrangements.

Surrogate baby Gammy was also abandoned by his parents. Photo: AAP 

The other baby is believed to have been given to someone known to the family, with Chief Justice Bryant alleging money was changed hands.

She said if the allegations of money being exchanged were true, the case could be tantamount to human trafficking and a criminal offence.

“I think it is appalling. It’s a breach of all sorts of human rights conventions and it’s a criminal offence in many places if that is so,” she said.

The surrogacy industry came under intense scrutiny earlier this year in a similar case where a Downs Syndrome surrogate baby was left by his Australian parents in Thailand.

Chief Justice Bryant has called for a national inquiry into the surrogacy industry following the most recent revelations.

Not a federal issue: PM

Prime Minister Tony Abbott finds the fresh surrogacy scandal reports in Asia distressing but believes surrogacy should remain a state government issue.

The Prime Minister’s comments hose down calls for a national inquiry into surrogacy laws,

“It’s always distressing to think that a child has been brought into the world and then abandoned,” he told reporters on Thursday.

“While I can understand the interest in this right around the country, I think there are some matters which are quite properly left to the state governments.”

But Federal Circuit Court Chief Judge John Pascoe called for a federal investigation.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten said former attorney-general Nicola Roxon commissioned a report on the issue several years ago, but the Abbott government has been sitting on it for eight months.

“Labor is open to a national inquiry in terms of surrogacy rules so that parents who are loving and desperate for children … and surrogates know what happens with this international matter,” Mr Shorten said.

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

Former Labor senator Bob Carr, 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 doesn’t recall surrogacy coming up in terms of the bilateral relationship between Australia and India.

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

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

Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek declined to comment on who the politician may have been.

Comment is being sought from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.