The issue has recently emerged as the group Australians with Abducted Children Japan, claims Japanese consulates in Australia are freely issuing new passports to a parent who wants to abduct their child.
Australian parents say they are helpless to have their child legally returned because Japan still has not signed off on the Hague Convention, an international agreement recognising custody rights.
Deborah Awyzio, President of the Family Law Practitioners Association of Queensland D A Family Lawyers Brisbane