Ms PLIBERSEK (Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women) (6:37 PM) —It is a wonderful opportunity to rise with members on both sides tonight and commend this motion to the House. We are not always in agreement on these issues, but there is a great deal of agreement across both sides of the chamber tonight that this is certainly a wonderful step forward. There really have been, I think, too many people involved in this struggle over the years for all of them to be named. I certainly agree with the member for Warringah, however, that Jackie Kelly, the former member for Lindsay, was particularly prominent among them. The member for Grayndler, who spoke earlier, and the member for North Sydney—both before they became fathers but particularly after they became fathers—have been very supportive of child care in the parliament. We have had a number of senators who have been particularly involved: Senator Kate Lundy and Senator Trish Crossin have both played very active roles over the years. I know you, Madam Deputy Speaker Burke, have been a great supporter of this initiative over very many years as well.

As I say, there are too many people to name all of those who have been involved, but I think I can safely say that one thing unites all of those people. It has not been an issue of self-interest for those people. It has been an issue of principle. It has not been an issue about child care for members of the House of Representatives and for senators; it has been an issue of work based child care that would serve the whole of the population of this Parliament House—which in a sitting week is, of course, as substantial as 3½ thousand. It has always been the argument that this centre would benefit all of the inhabitants of this House who needed it.

The construction of the facility is due to commence shortly, in July 2008, and, as a number of speakers have said, the initial focus is for children under the age of two. Of course, it would be lovely to have older children as well—in a facility that is larger and caters for more children—but having that group of very young children close to where their mothers are working is so very critical in supporting the establishment and maintenance of breastfeeding. I think it is terrific that all of those staff in Parliament House will be able to not just have the security of work based child care but to also have the additional benefit of being able to continue to breastfeed their children for longer. Of course, the staff of the parliament, members and senators, will pay childcare fees—like all other Australians. We can hope that this establishment of a childcare facility here in parliament will motivate other workplaces and employers to consider the establishment of other work based childcare centres around the country.

Mothers who return to work often stop breastfeeding their children younger than they would like to. We know that the benefits of breastfeeding are very well established, and it is essential that we support mothers’ choice—where they are able to—to continue to breastfeed their infants. As I say, this will be a wonderful benefit of this childcare centre. I am not sure that it will be as useful for parliamentarians, in fact, as it will be for the staff. For many of us who brought our children to Canberra with us in those early months and years it was absolutely essential to have someone with us. It is not suitable, I think, for children to be in child care over the length of the very long hours that we sit. On the other hand, for Canberra based staff and for staff travelling with us who do not have to be here until 9.30 or 10 o’clock at night, this childcare centre will make an enormous difference. It will mean that some of our very valuable staff—the hardworking, intelligent staff that we depend on to do our work—will be able to return to us sooner. They may perhaps be part-time, or they may job share, but they will be able to return to us sooner.

We know that breastfeeding rates in Australia are low by some international standards. While 71 per cent of infants are fully breastfed at the age of one month, only 56 per cent are fully breastfed at three months and just 14 per cent are fully breastfed at six months. Obviously it would be wonderful to increase those figures. The National Health and Medical Research Council Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in Australia, released in 2003, called for breastfeeding to be encouraged and supported in recognition of the positive effect on immediate and long-term health of breastfed infants. The World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months, and breastfeeding with complimentary foods for up to two years—and even beyond. We thought that the National Health and Medical Research Council’s initial target of exclusive breastfeeding for six months or more in 50 per cent of infants would be very easy to achieve, and the goal was to achieve exclusive breastfeeding for six months or more in 80 per cent of infants within a decade. We were not able to do that, and the challenge is for us to do that more broadly in the community.

This childcare centre has been the subject of debate, surveys and questionnaires. I believe that we even had employees of the Joint House Department asking—in order to assess whether a childcare centre was needed—female members of parliament, at one stage, whether they were thinking of having any more children. It has had a very long—I am not even going to make the joke about a gestation period—period of deliberation.

Mr Albanese —I think you just made it.

Ms PLIBERSEK —No, I intentionally did not make the joke. It has had a very long period of deliberation. It is a very important step forward to be doing it now and to be making our workplace here in Canberra—and hopefully our workplaces back in our electorate offices as well—more family-friendly, and also more breastfeeding-friendly, with the provision of child care.

Of course, the government supports the choice of many women with young children to return to the workforce, and construction of the childcare centre will provide an immediate benefit to those parents who want to return to work while their children are very young. It will provide a good model for other workplaces. It will make it easier for people to continue to breastfeed. It will make our relationships with our children much easier when we work such long and difficult hours.

I think there is one potential problem. It will be that those of us who are missing our own children at home will perhaps have to be banned from the childcare centre or we will be giving cuddles to strange children. That is the only potential drawback I can see. I think having children in Parliament House will be a very humanising thing for all of us. I think it will encourage us all to behave better and to remember that even our opponents and the journalists in the gallery—each and every one of us—have another side and other responsibilities. It will improve the way we treat each other and the feel of the parliament to have more children around.