Archive for the ‘Homebirth Rally - Canberra’ Category

The rally speeches in five parts

As we get them we are adding the speeches here for those who weren’t able to hear. All will be here in the next few days.

THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY: Mums with babes in arms, children, midwives and others gathered on the steps of Parliament House in Adelaide today to protest against Federal Government plans that would see homebirthing effectively made illegal.

The rally was organised for SA people unable to attend a national protest at Parliament House in Canberra, where a sea of purple hands with pictures of children born at home were placed on the Federal Mall lawns.

NEWMATILDA.COM: The Federal Government has deferred its ban on homebirths, but until they finally understand the practice and actually get behind it, the issue is not going to go away, writes Justine Caines

Thousands of people are rallying in Canberra today to demand that the Federal Government take homebirth seriously. Although Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced a last-minute back-down on proposed changes that would effectively ban private homebirths from July 2010, the threat has merely been postponed. The Rudd Government continues to demonstrate a profound lack of understanding of the reasons people choose to give birth at home.

RIOT ACT: Despite the rain and cold, the crowd were fantastic! I’ve been to a few protest rallies in my time, and the atmosphere today was cooperative, supportive, and friendly - unlike anything I’ve experienced before at a rally. I literally walked around all day with a big grin on my face, meeting people who had flown to Canberra from Perth and Darwin and Brisbane, caught buses from Melbourne, driven down from Newcastle and Sydney, and taken their lunch break from Canberra offices to be there for the event.

COFFS COAST ADVOCATE: BELLINGEN midwife Susie Hoff said the Federal Government’s Friday backdown on home birthing was ‘a step in the right direction but we still have a long way to go’.

Speaking from Canberra, where she was attending yesterday’s rally in front of Federal Parliament to support home birth as a legal option, Susie said the two-year exemption from holding indemnity insurance for privately-practising midwives who could not obtain insurance cover announced on Friday was ‘a two-year Band-aid’.

As we get them we are adding the speeches here for those who weren’t able to hear. All will be here in the next few days.

YAHOO7 NEWS: The crowd was subdued as Senator Moore defended an agreement, reached on Friday, that gives privately-practising midwives who can’t obtain cover for attending a homebirth, an exemption from indemnity insurance until 2012.

“The government can come up with a solution that all of you can survive,” she said.

“We’re all concerned about women and children and families being safe.”

SBS: “We’ll continue to campaign, but I really think the penny as dropped,” said Homebirth Australia president Justine Caines.

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert addresses the rally.

A sea of purple hands with pictures of children born at home were placed on the Federal Mall lawns.

Amid the sea of umbrellas were placards proclaiming homebirths as a woman’s right.

Short segment from SBS