A (little) Stranger in the House

The subject of the relationship between families and the Parliament has not been addressed by Parliaments in Australia and indeed Parliaments around the world.

With younger MPs and more women, Parliaments now and in the future will have to consider more seriously the types of services and supports that they give to Members.

The subject of breast feeding in the Chambers of Parliament is one that has confronted our Parliament and one which all Parliaments will need to consider in the future, if they have not already done so.

The subject in Victoria proved to be a very contentious one.

We found that a small group of women strongly supported the proposal, but an overwhelming number of Victorians opposed it very strongly.

A newly elected MP in Victoria was asked to remove her baby from the Chamber floor because of the "Stranger in the House" Standing Order.

The baby was very young, and provision had been made for the mother to have a larger than normal office and a room next to the Chamber had been made available to her to feed her baby.

Standing Order 30 reads

"Unless by order of the House, no member of this House shall presume to bring any stranger into any part of the House appropriated to the members of this House while the House, or a Committee of the whole House is sitting."

The origins of "Stranger in the House" dates back to the reign of King Charles 1. He clashed with the power of the Parliament and entered the floor of the Chamber in pursuit of his critics. Hence the ruling was made to keep "Strangers" out of the Parliament.

In 1985 an unidentified person dressed in a chicken suit sat on the front bench of the Federal Parliament, before quickly exiting.

In 1987 a man leapt six metres from the public gallery of the House of representatives to the Chamber below.

In the New South Wales Parliament, a mysterious woman in green, snuck onto the floor of the chamber and poked her finger into the stomach of an MP who was asleep during the debate. She quickly vanished.

A baby is a little different.

The media that followed was quite extraordinary and focussed on the subject of the rights of breast feeding mothers, and raised an amazing response in the Victorian Community.

There were two views in the community in regard to the matter. Some saw it as a stunt to highlight the need for cultural change in Parliament and some saw it as an abuse of Parliament.

A poll run by the popular daily newspaper "The Sun" runs a daily vote line. The response was the greatest they had ever received being bigger than the response on the "Tampa and children overboard incident"

In the phone poll 11,800 calls opposed breastfeeding in the House and 2,800 supported it.

The MP involved was subjected to a significant amount of abusive mail. By about the third day of the saga the MP's capacities as a mother and as a MP were being questioned in the daily media.

Everybody had an opinion on the matter.

Whilst the Breastfeeding Association strongly supported the rights to breastfeed, the community at large was not convinced.

The Chair of the Equal Opportunity Commission gave her view that workplaces should provide an area for women to feed their babies but not necessarily the work space.

There are a number of occupational health and safety reasons why some work places are not suitable for breastfeeding: such as a production line.

Other Parliaments in Australia had had experience of babies entering the Parliament during a division, but there was no experience of a baby being breastfed in the House.

Meetings with the political parties showed that there was a fair amount of caution about what changes should be made and what they should be.

The option to amend or withdraw the Standing Order raised a number of practical problems.

Children can be breast fed until 4or 5 years old. Would it be the intention to allow toddlers in the House?

If you adopted the maternity leave period of 14 week, what if a mother wanted to breastfeed at 15 weeks?

If part of the point of breastfeeding is to bond with your child, shouldn't mothers or indeed fathers /grandfathers/ aunts or friends be able to bring babies into the chamber?

Is the Chamber at Question Time a suitable place to take a small infant?

The changing or removal of Standing Orders seemed to raise more problems that in resolved.

In the end a Speaker's ruling was made on 18th March, 2000.

"I wish to make a brief ruling in relation to breastfeeding in the chamber. Since the first sitting week of this House I have had discussions with all political parties about whether parliamentary procedures could be altered to accommodate breastfeeding in the chamber in appropriate circumstances. The view expressed in those discussions was that discretion should rest with the Speaker. Accordingly, where a member is required to be in the chamber it is in order for that members, if necessary, to bring an infant into the chamber to be breastfed."

This puts the responsibility in the hands of the Speaker, but the ruling is made purposely vague so that there is latitude for the Presiding Office to deal with situations that may not be contemplated at this stage.

The media covering the ruling really finished the general discussion in the media and elsewhere.

However I have been surprised by the interest in the subject, and the opposition to it by women of almost all ages including schoolgirls, and opposition from males as well.

The opposition centres not so much on the issue of breastfeeding itself, but more on the issue that MP's cannot concentrate on their job if they are breastfeeding or they have their baby in the Chamber.

The view of most women MP's is that they wouldn't wish to take their baby into the Chamber as they would feel uncomfortable feeding their baby in front of the assembled media and the whole of the male dominated Parliament.

In the end the experience was the opportunity for many predictable jokes in relation to the topic.

On a more serious note however it is the opportunity for our Parliament to take more seriously the sort of work space that we are providing for our Members.

Most parliaments have started room a male dominated base and therefore were built or designed without the needs of young parents in mind.

The lack of facilities such as child care, family rooms, baby-change rooms would be fairly common I believe throughout our parliaments.

If we want to further democratise parliaments we have to be seriously prepared to make our parliamentary buildings more acceptable to a much larger section of the population. Not only do we need to consider facilities for young children and families we must consider if we make our buildings accessible to disabled residents, and others with special needs.