SYDNEY: Australian Senator Larissa Waters made history in Australia on Tuesday when she became the first elected politician to breastfeed her daughter on the Senate’s floor.
Waters, a Queensland senator and co-deputy of the Greens party, returned to work after ten weeks on maternity leave Tuesday. When her daughter Alia got hungry, Waters breastfed her on the Senate floor.
“So proud that my daughter Alia is the first baby to be breastfed in the federal Parliament! We need more women & parents in Parliament,” Waters tweeted.
A 2-month-old made history in Australia — becoming the first baby to be breastfed in that country’s Parliament. The little girl, named Alia Joy, is the newborn daughter of Queensland Senator Larissa Waters.
Waters, co-deputy leader of Australia’s Green party, returned from maternity leave Tuesday, with her second daughter in tow. When Alia Joy was hungry, she fed her.
The Australian Parliament changed its rules last year to allow female lawmakers to nurse their infants in the chamber. Before that, children were banned from the chamber. And breastfeeding mothers were given a proxy vote.
Waters, who was influential in the rule change, said in November, “If we want more young women in Parliament, we must make the rules more family friendly to allow new mothers and new fathers to balance their parliamentary and parental duties.”
On International Woman’s Day, while Waters was still on maternity leave, the senator announced the birth of her daughter and hinted about what was to come.
“(Alia) is even more inspiration for continuing our work to address gender inequality and stem dangerous climate change. (And yes, if she’s hungry, she will be breastfed in the Senate chamber).”
Alia isn’t the first baby to be fed during political proceedings. In 2016, a politician in Iceland breastfed her one-month-old child while speaking at the national parliament.
In what the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service called a first, Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir, an MP for the Independence Party, fed her baby during a debate on the proposed Foreigners Act.
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