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AN AUSTRALIAN SENATOR has made political history by becoming the first politician to breastfeed in the nation’s parliament.
Senator Larissa Waters, from the Green party, fed her two-month-old daughter Alia Joy during a vote yesterday as she returned to work in the upper house Senate for the first time since giving birth.
“So proud that my daughter Alia is the first baby to be breastfed in the federal Parliament! We need more #women & parents in Parli,” Waters wrote on Twitter.
The lower house changed its rules last year and joined the Senate to allow lawmakers to breastfeed and bottle-feed in the chamber, however no MPs from either house had done so until now.
Breastfeeding has been permitted in the Australian Senate since 2003.
The rule change came around following a backlash in 2015 when a government minister, Kelly O’Dwyer, was requested to consider pumping milk to avoid missing her parliamentary duties.
Breastfeeding in public has become a hot topic in many countries, and female lawmakers have been criticised for taking their babies to parliamentary sessions.
Last year, a politician in Iceland spoke in parliament while breastfeeding her baby daughter, and infants are allowed in the European and Spanish parliaments.
Waters later tweeted about Australian Victorian state politician Kirstie Marshall who was ejected from the chamber for breastfeeding her baby back in 2003, stating “Look how far we have come”.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to get disheartened by the sexism women still face in the workplace,” Waters wrote on Facebook this morning.
“But sometimes it pays to look back and see how far we have come.”
Waters has since changed her Facebook profile photo to an image of herself breastfeeding in parliament, attracting dozens of mostly positive comments.
Labour Senator Katy Gallagher said the moment deserved to be acknowledged.
“Women have been doing it in parliaments around the world,” she told Sky News Australia.
“Women are going to continue to have babies and if they want to do their job and be at work and look after their baby… the reality is we are going to have to accommodate that.”
A recent report on diversity in UK politics recommended that the House of Commons should consider allowing breastfeeding.
The issue of breastfeeding by Irish politicians has never arisen in the Dáil, however the topic itself has come up numerous times.
Additional reporting by AFP.
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One of the truly great songwriters, one of lifes mystery’s is how he made 60, a true testament to the resilience of the human body.
Congrats Shane, deserves it
Legend !
@Gavin O’Brien: absolute legend,
Such a pity Dolores o Riordan didn’t get one also.
He looks in a bad way.
@@Kevinro1980:
What happened to him?
@@Kevinro1980: Dubliners song seven drunken nights comes to mind
@John Byrne: 40+ years of alcohol and drug abuse will do that to you. Unless you’re Keith Richards, in which case you walk away unscathed. I think Shane also broke his hip recently.
Would love to have been at this,absolutely love Shane McGowan, and to top it all off,Nick Cave was there too,would literally have fainted on the spot,Anyway congratulations Shane,legend.
Well deserved but, something tells me 2018 may claim him soon too
The greatest poet of my lifetime.
One of Ireland’s most talented artists
Immensely talented, no doubt about that, but he’s from England not Ireland.
@O Swetenham: born in England to irish parents, spent the first 6 and a half years of his life in Tipperary, considers himself Irish and has spent more of his life living in Ireland than England. That makes him irish in my opinion.
@Dermot Lane: Yeah you’re right. I’m being a wee bit pedantic I suppose.
The picture reminds me of one of those creepy Victorian post mortem photos where family members would pose for one last family photo with the dressed up corpse.
@TechProducts: he looks like a waxwork statue
Does anybody know if this was recorded and if so will it be made available for viewing?
@Brian Brogan: There was a some professional camera men there last night along with notices saying it was being recorded so hopefully it will become available.
Incredible night but I was annoyed to see some empty seats in front of us from no shows when there was a few hundred people queuing up outside hoping to get a ticket.
@Brian Brogan: Yes it was recorded.
Everyone loves him now.
Very well deserved. What a great night that must have been!
what a poet. Well deserved
who’s the guy dressed up as Johnny Depp?
@Johnhunky Dory: Oh… it IS Johnny Depp!!
@Johnhunky Dory: Bah humbug, I like Johnny Depp…
@Johnhunky Dory: don’t think he will offering to blast Shane out of a canon when he goes .
Thompson cost him a packet
When he was good he was very good, the music industry,it’s not for the faint hearted
have your say