Fiona Martin (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2018, there were 315,147 births in Australia. Having a baby is a beautiful, joyous occasion for many. Nothing is more beautiful than bringing new life into the world. I know this. I've experienced it four times, and I'm very proud to have four little people. However, sadly, for many women in Australia having a child is a traumatic experience, and many women—one in three women in Australia—have experienced a traumatic birth.

Birth-related trauma has ongoing, devastating impacts on women's physical and psychological health. Research from the National Core Maternity Indicators suggest that up to 20 per cent of first-time mothers suffer major, irreversible, physical birth trauma. This includes injuries such as perineal lacerations, anal-sphincter tears and pelvic-floor-muscle tears, which can lead to lifelong implications like urinary and faecal incontinence. The social and economic impacts of birth trauma are widely felt. Ongoing birth trauma impacts a woman's mental health, limits a woman's participation in the workforce, requires costly treatment, incurs medico-legal claims and impacts a mother-and-child bond. For many families it causes family breakdown and a breakdown in family functioning. It also deters women from having future pregnancies.

I recently met with the founder of the Australasian Birth Trauma Association, Amy Dawes; the chair of the Australian Physiotherapy Association pelvic-floor group, Catherine Willis; and the founders of Empowered Motherhood Program, former Sydney Swifts netballer, Ms Kimmy Smith, and physiotherapist Elizabeth Evans. They have been making waves by advocating for better information, treatment and support for women living with ongoing birth trauma. They've seen that many of these injuries can be prevented and treated if women are given comprehensive postnatal care and a thorough assessment.

Providing women with access to imaging services capable of diagnosing birth trauma, with an appropriate referral pathway, can save many mothers a lifetime of pain. However, many women cannot afford or access quality treatment from a physiotherapist or other appropriate treatments, meaning that they live with ongoing physical and psychological trauma. While pregnant women can access essential Medicare-subsidised treatment during pregnancy and labour, postnatal care for women is limited. We need to look at ways to better support birthing mothers. When we do this we support women's health, we support parents and families and we support women's participation in the workforce.