Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It certainly gives me pleasure to contribute to this debate, having the honour of being part of the committee that looked into the benefits of breastfeeding. It came about actually because, in a previous inquiry we were working on concerning the healthcare system, we had a very good submission from the Breastfeeding Association.

At the time, they raised concerns about needs that they believed they had in relation to raising awareness and support for breastfeeding mothers. We thought it would be an opportunity to have a short, sharp inquiry. When we announced that inquiry, I have to say that I was somewhat surprised at the huge amount of interest that it generated. There were a huge number of submissions—nearly 500 submissions came from right around the country. Reading through those submissions, you are somewhat surprised at the lack of understanding on this issue. You have preconceived views in relation to the availability of formulas, for example, and the activities of infant formula manufacturers in marketing their products.

We were interested in finding out what was happening in remote and regional areas, particularly in Indigenous communities. When we were seeking information to establish where we should be going in relation to Indigenous communities, we were somewhat surprised at the total lack of information that was available. I listened to much of the contribution by my friend and colleague Mr Georganas and concur completely with what he said. I will not repeat a lot of the information that he provided; I will focus on just a couple of areas. One was in relation to Indigenous health. I guess I started this inquiry with an assumption that Indigenous people in these remote communities would be provided with truckloads of formula and that breastfeeding rates would be quite low. It was very surprising. We had the opportunity of visiting a couple of remote communities in my electorate: Kowanyama and Pormpuraaw. We found that the incidence of breastfeeding in these communities was very high—up in the 90 per cent range. We are talking about breastfeeding for six months and extending that through to up to 12 months.

When we had the opportunity of visiting the local community store we found that the availability of formula was quite limited. I have to say that it was provided in a quite responsible way. I think that highlighted to us that there was a lack of information in this area. One of the recommendations was that we need to start to look at this matter closely. What is happening in these remote Indigenous communities is also happening very much in remote Australia generally. I think we need to get a lot more information on that.

The inquiry clearly highlighted the very significant benefits associated with breastfeeding, critically up to six months of age and necessary wherever possible up to 12 months of age, in the best interests of the child. We found that some of the public hospital programs were very good. People raised concerns about their preference or where they were encouraged, basically, to put their children onto formula for convenience sake or because they may have been experiencing difficulties in early breastfeeding. Nipple soreness and things like that caused problems and they were encouraged to go onto formula.

We actually had evidence from some mothers who were very, very disappointed that they were not given the opportunity to deal with some of the physical problems—the health problems—they had and helped to persevere with breastfeeding their children. In some cases they felt they had missed out tremendously by losing that opportunity when in fact they could have dealt with some of those problems. It may well have been difficult, but if they had had proper support they could have dealt with that and then continued breastfeeding their children. One of the recommendations is to have baby-friendly hospitals where we can ensure that there is the right type of support for nursing mums to ensure that they are able to maximise that opportunity.

At the same time, however, we have to recognise that there is a critical role for formula. Unfortunately, there are some mums who just cannot feed their children naturally through breastfeeding. We have to make sure that the formulas available are as good as possible and as close as can be to mothers milk. We have to also make sure that those mums who, through no choice of their own, are compelled to use alternative methods for feeding their infants are not seen as a lesser person for doing that. There were mums who felt very much that they were seen as a lesser person because they did not have the capacity to breastfeed. It is absolutely critical that we recognise that this does occur and that these mums are just as caring and just as nurturing as those that have the ability and the privilege to be able to breastfeed their children.

We also identified another need: breastfeeding-friendly workplace environments. Mr Deputy Speaker Quick, you would be interested to know that one of the recommendations was to look at how we could turn this place into such an environment. There is a recommendation for the Speaker to consider doing that because, as you are well aware, there are a number of our members who have had children while they have been in service here and it is important that they are able to fulfil their obligations not only to the parliament but also to their children.

It was probably one of the more interesting inquiries that I have been on, and probably one of the more enlightening. You assume that you understand these issues and then you listen to evidence from passionate people who are putting forward some very, very strong arguments. I enjoyed it immensely. I think there were 21 recommendations—I defer there to the chair, Mr Somlyay, who did an outstanding job in this inquiry. I see that our deputy chair at that time is here as well. It was probably one of the more enjoyable inquiries I have done.

I think it is important that, as recommended, the department provide funds to expand the Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace Accreditation Program nationally. The other recommended initiative, which I thought was rather interesting and important, is that we are calling on the Treasurer to move to exempt lactation aids such as breast pumps, nipple shields and supply lines from GST. They are an essential part of enabling mums to continue breastfeeding.

I take this opportunity to thank the chairman and members of the committee for doing an outstanding job. To Pauline Brown I say: thank you very much indeed; it was great. Of course I thank other members of the secretariat. It was certainly one of the more rewarding inquiries that I have participated in. I hope that, as a result of the work that we have done in this report, we have clearly identified that breastfeeding a child up to the age of 12 months is by far the best way of being able to give kids the best chance in life. It has been confirmed that we are significantly behind many of our contemporaries. When we look at the European experience, particularly the Scandinavian example, we see that we are very much behind. We start off very well with breastfeeding in the first three months but we fall back significantly at six months and our rate is very low at 12 months. There is a lot of work to be done in this area; a lot can be done to raise awareness and deal with workplace relationships. We could also fund the Australian Breastfeeding Association to enable it to expand its current helpline, to make it a toll-free helpline so it can give young mums the information that they need to make breastfeeding happen. With that contribution, I commend the report to the House. I hope that the recommendations will be adopted in full by government.

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