New mothers would be allowed to breastfeed their babies on the floor of Parliament and take their infants into the chamber "when needed," under sweeping new recommendations put forward by a Parliamentary committee.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Under the proposed changes, parents would be allowed to take their babies into the Chamber during late night sittings and divisions if there is no care available.
And although the committee heard from a "number of members" who said they would prefer to feed their babies in their offices and take advantage of a proxy vote, they agreed breastfeeding should be allowed in the chamber, to show the government supports working families.
The recommendations are the product of a snap-inquiry into how to make Parliament easier for new mothers, after Fairfax Media revealed one Liberal MP was urged to consider expressing more milk, instead of missing divisions.
The advice, from the office of the now-dumped Coalition Whip Scott Buchholz, enraged the recipient, cabinet minister Kelly O'Dwyer and many of her women colleagues. Mr Buchholz was later informed that House of Representatives regulations allowed a proxy vote for new mothers.
The government quietly asked the committee, which includes Mr Buchholz, to investigate breastfeed should be allowed in the lower house, just as it is permitted in the Senate, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten called for the change immediately.
The committee's report said: "A number of members said that it would be their preference to use a proxy vote rather than breastfeed under the scrutiny of the national media."
"It has been put to the committee, however, that if the Parliament is to fully support breastfeeding, it should not be prohibited in any part of the building, including the chamber and federation chamber," the report said.
The committee said it agreed with the advice.
"The proposed amendment is specifically intended to include a member breast or bottle feeding an infant, but does not require that an infant be feeding as a pre-requisite to its presence in the chamber."
"Such positive and practical changes make the challenges to women serving in the Parliament a little easier to manage," chair Andrew Southcott said.
The committee believes the changes are "unlikely to have a significant impact in practice," given most members said they would prefer to keep their babies out of Parliament and only use the provision when there was no other practical option for caring for their baby.
Three frontbenchers had their first babies in 2015. The recently promoted cabinet minister Kelly O'Dwyer and Labor frontbenchers Amanda Rishworth and Kate Ellis have formed a bipartisan mothers group to help each other cope with juggling the demands of being an MP and mother.
The decision to allow infants in the chamber will also contribute to making the Parliament more family friendly. In 2009 the Senate controversially expelled the two-year-old daughter of Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young under rules that regarded the infant as a "stranger" in the House. Ms Hanson-Young said at the time that she had "never felt so humiliated".
