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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 3 Hansard (13 March) . . Page.. 1017 ..

MS DUNDAS

I have read many letters to the editor and listened to talkback radio. The issue has raised opinions from all quarters. Some objected to Ms Marshall breastfeeding in public. Others stated that breastfeeding in the noisy environment of parliament was not good for the baby. Some people were offended that Ms Marshall was asked to leave. The term "cheap politics"was levelled at all sides of the debate. The archaic phrase "stranger in the house"opened up its own debate.

Further, Ms Marshall's mother, who is a part-time electorate officer for the member, is being accused of being an overpaid babysitter. It seems that we cannot get our head around mothers in work, let alone grandmothers in work. I believe that much of the debate on breastfeeding rings of hypocrisy.

We live in a society which finds it acceptable for women to wear bikini tops to the shops and anything you like to the public pool and an advertising industry that is happy to place women in scantily clad underwear to sell anything from tampons to tractors. Yet many in the community are critical when they see a woman bare her breasts for the natural purpose-to breastfeed a baby.

Today women tend to be older when they have their babies, with the median age of first-time mothers being around 30. Family size is reduced and breasts are seen primarily as sexual objects rather than the source of nutrition for babies. Some young women may rarely, if ever, see a baby at the breast before they themselves become pregnant. They may feel uncomfortable or even embarrassed about breastfeeding in front of friends and family, much less when out and about in their daily lives. Men who see breasts as only sexual objects may worry about their partners feeding in public, possibly in a type of juvenile jealousy. Many women feel that they must hide themselves away to breastfeed. Then it becomes unnecessarily difficult or restrictive, and they may end up choosing to wean early.

Discrimination laws in the ACT quite clearly prohibit discrimination against a person on the basis of her status as a parent. While in other states legislation explicitly notes breastfeeding, that is not something this Assembly has yet considered.

Whilst trying to measure community attitudes on breastfeeding, the South Australian Health Commission surveyed over 3,000 people in 1998 and found that 83 per cent of people believe bottle feeding in public places is more acceptable practice than breastfeeding. Not surprisingly, the study also showed that breastfeeding mothers feel extremely uncomfortable when breastfeeding in public. So the community would rather not see it, and mothers feel uncomfortable doing it.

This issue has again hit the media. What we need to do is look at how we as a society can fix the mix between work and family life. People should not be uncomfortable breastfeeding in public, and they should be allowed to do it as they continue their work. Long and varied hours, casual or part-time work, shift work, smaller families with less connection with extended families and the lack of affordable child care are some of the factors that create an imbalance between work and family life.

Some workplaces now have an increased awareness of the importance of an individual's family responsibilities, and this is included in workplace policies. Unfortunately,

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