International Day of the Midwife

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. B.R. Hood:

That this council—

1. Recognises that 5 May 2024 is International Day of the Midwife;

2. Celebrates the invaluable service that South Australian midwives provide throughout our state, especially in the regions;

3. Commends midwives' commitment, dedication and compassion in delivering outstanding service to South Australian women and their families;

4. Notes, with great concern, the recent loss of midwifery services in regional areas including Waikerie, Kangaroo Island, Kapunda, Gawler and Whyalla; and

5. Calls on the Malinauskas government to invest more seriously in regional birthing services.

(Continued from 1 May 2024.)

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (17:26): I rise to speak in support of the motion put forward by my honourable colleague, and I would like to congratulate him on this important motion. In doing so, I would like to acknowledge his wife and perhaps better half, Elle, who is a wonderful midwife down in the South-East.

The 2024 International Day of the Midwife celebrates midwives' crucial role in maternal and newborn health. It recognises the profession's dedication, expertise and compassionate care in improving outcomes for mothers and babies globally. Midwives are trained health professionals who support women during pregnancy, childbirth and through the important postpartum period. They provide comprehensive care, prenatal visits, labour and delivery assistance and postnatal support. They focus on both the physical and emotional wellbeing of mother and baby.

The midwives that I know exemplify commitment, dedication and compassion in their service to women and families. Their commitment is evident in their tireless efforts to provide highly personalised care. There is an industry adherence to best practice which aims to ensure the health and wellbeing of both mother and child. But it is compassion at the heart of midwifery. The offer of emotional support, comfort and understanding builds trust. That trust empowers women during one of life's most significant events.

I would like to speak for a short moment about the importance of midwifery in a regional context and perhaps also in a personal context for me and my experience in South Australia. Midwives in the regions in particular I think are a little bit like extended family, because you do not just see them in the hospital, you see them at the local football or netball club, you see them at the local shopping centre, you see them at the local school. They truly are a huge and incredibly important part of the community.

I often still bump into the midwives who assisted my son's delivery around my hometown. Whilst I was unable to have my twin daughters, Anna and Lucia, in the region because they were a higher risk pregnancy, the midwives at the Riverland regional hospital were still a very big part of my support network during that time. I would like to take the opportunity to personally thank them again for being so kind, so thoughtful, so warm and so professional.

Midwives are absolutely crucial in rural and regional areas outside of the metropolitan zone, because they provide essential maternal and newborn care where access to specialist and specialised services are limited. The presence of a midwife helps to ensure women receive skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth, improving health outcomes in our country towns and reducing maternal and infant mortality rates in these, sadly, unserved regions.

I note the proposed amendments put forward by the Hon. Mr Ngo, and I also note that these are sensible and add to the debate and will be accepted by my colleague the Hon. Mr Ben Hood. With that, and in celebrating midwives not just today but every day, I conclude my remarks and commend the motion to the chamber.

The Hon. T.T. NGO (17:30): As mentioned by the Hon. Ms Centofanti, I would like to move an amendment:

Leave out paragraphs 4 and 5 and insert new paragraphs as follows:

4. Notes, with great concern, the loss of midwifery services in Waikerie and the ongoing suspension in Whyalla; and

5. Calls on the Malinauskas government to invest in regional birthing services and to implement all recommendations of the Whyalla Birthing Services Review.

I rise to speak in support of the commitment and dedicated service that Australia's midwives provide through our communities. I thank the Hon. Ben Hood for moving this motion.

The word 'midwife' means 'with women' and, according to what I have been told, midwives take their role with women very seriously. In 2017, 98.55 per cent of Australia's midwifery workforce was female. As of June 2023, according to the Nursing and Midwifery Board, 99.4 per cent of the midwifery workforce with scheduled medicine endorsements was female.

As we know, a midwife is an important maternity care specialist with the knowledge and expertise to make sure that the best health outcomes are achieved for a mother and her baby. Midwives in Australia are educated and professionally accountable in working in partnership with child-bearing women and their families in offering support and advice during pregnancy, labour and birth.

Those of us who are parents will know firsthand how important it is for a woman to feel empowered in the care that she and her newborn are receiving. I think that is what makes a midwife's role especially important, as they keep the mum fully informed and tailor her care according to what each woman's individual and unique situation needs.

When I think back to witnessing the birth of my three children, I recall the gentle reassurance that helped guide my wife through each stage of labour, the calm, and the reassuring sense of stability offered by the midwife during the whirlwind of emotions. The value of the unwavering support and words of encouragement that our midwives give to women as they bravely face each contraction can never be underestimated.

Australia's midwifery service, as the Hon. Ben Hood mentions in his motion, is a greater challenge in our regions and rural areas. A significant reason for this, one which my government has acted on, is the challenge of recruiting and retaining midwives in rural and remote communities. With fewer births occurring in these areas, it is economically challenging to maintain full-time midwifery staff and facilities.

Large numbers of our midwives prefer to work in urban settings where they can access more job opportunities and professional development and also be close to amenities for their families. As we have learned over time, during the lives of many governments, the decline in midwifery services in regional areas cannot be blamed on the government of the day. It is a problem caused by many factors and is one that requires a long-term multifaceted approach.

As time has shown us, populations in our rural areas are generally inclined to decline as younger generations move on for study or work. However, it is imperative we continue to implement initiatives that do better at attracting and retaining midwives and look at how we can provide additional support for expectant mothers in rural communities.

Often, the midwife in a small community will wear many hats and fulfil other roles as needed. There is no question that midwives working in these areas are doing amazing work with whatever resources and infrastructure they have to support them. With that, on behalf of the government I commend each and every one of them and fully support this motion, with some minor amendments, to celebrate their commitment and recognise 5 May every year as the International Day of the Midwife.

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (17:36): I thank the Hon. Tung Ngo and the Hon. Nicola Centofanti for their contributions to this important motion. It is important that in this place we do acknowledge the amazing work of midwives around the state, and importantly in the regions. As I have mentioned many times before, and as the Hon. Nicola Centofanti just mentioned then, my wife is a midwife. Elle was inspired to become a midwife by another midwife when she gave birth to our daughter, Neave, in Naracoorte, but increasingly since that time in 2006 we have seen birthing services in the regions get smaller and smaller.

We see in Kapunda and Gawler, which my original motion mentioned, frequent diversions from Kapunda to Gawler and Gawler to the Lyell McEwin. These are very vulnerable regional areas and we need to ensure that mums and their expected bubs have every chance to be looked after as close to home as possible.

As the Liberal Party, we certainly will not be opposing the amendments put forward by the Hon. Tung Ngo. We are glad that the guts of the motion are still maintained, in that it calls on the Malinauskas government to invest in regional birthing services and to implement all the recommendations of the Whyalla birthing services review.

Again, it is important that we do acknowledge the amazing work that our midwives do. A relation of mine just texted me only a few minutes ago. I would like to just put on record quickly, before summing-up, the name Harriet Eliza Hood. She was born in 1852 and died in 1919. She herself was a midwife and I did not know this, actually, until only a few minutes ago. At 1am in the driving rain, Harriet would be picked up by a horseman who came galloping up to her house. Harriet would go out into the regions and ride for miles to deliver babies. That was way back then.

That is how it used to happen in the regions, and I certainly hope that we do not have to have a situation in which women in South Australia have to jump on horseback and go for miles on end in pouring rain just to have their baby in relative safety. Good on Harriet for doing that, but I am certainly glad that we have midwives like my wife, Elle, and so many others in this state.

I thank them for their absolute commitment. I thank them for their humour—a midwife's humour is quite amazing—and how they still just push through. They come up against some pretty adverse situations but they always keep their cool. They always do right by the new and expectant mums, and I am so proud of Elle and all of the midwives here in South Australia. With that, I commend this motion and, again, wish every midwife in South Australia a very happy International Day of the Midwife back on 5 May.

Amendment carried; motion as amended carried.