Media Release – Premier Daniel Andrews
Monday, 7 November 2022
Bringing home a new baby is an enormous change to any family. It’s such a special time – but it can be overwhelming and challenging too.
Many new parents spend a lot of time planning for the birth of their baby – but no amount of planning can prepare you for this life-transforming event.
We introduced the Baby Bundle to ensure new parents have all the information and free baby care essentials they need, all in a handy nappy bag. But with parents telling us they need more support, for longer – we know there’s more to do.
That’s why a re-elected Andrews Labor Government will ensure all new parents get the support they need in the crucial first months of a new baby’s life.
We will invest $69 million to help parents when their babies are born – including more access to free Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services, new Early Parenting Centres and additional support for multicultural and Indigenous communities.
Our incredible MCH nurses help parents adjust to life with a baby and navigate the challenges of parenthood – and while a lot of education during pregnancy is focused on birth, we’ve listened to parents who’ve said they wish they had more support for what comes next.
To make those early weeks and months easier, we’ll boost the number of hours our hardworking MCH nurses spend with families, ensuring even more support for parents after they bring their baby home
We will increase free consultations to eight hours’ worth of appointments, so parents can ask more questions and get more advice on how to give the best care.
We’ll also support women however they choose to feed their babies. More than 90 per cent of mothers start out by breastfeeding, but that drops to 40 per cent at four months and 15 per cent at six months.
While there are many reasons women may not continue breastfeeding, a lack of support shouldn’t be one of them.
That’s why we will invest $4 million for free appointments with midwives and nurses who are trained to provide lactation consultations, to help women through the challenges of latching and establishing milk supply.
Every new parent expects to be sleep deprived, but sometimes significant sleep problems can really affect the mental health and wellbeing of families.
Parents shouldn’t go through this alone, so we’ve supported them by investing $148 million to build or upgrade 10 Early Parenting Centres to help with things like sleep and settling, child behaviour and health and wellbeing for children and parents.
A re-elected Labor Government will build on this record, investing an extra $15 million in a new Early Parenting Centre in Northcote, meeting growing demand from local families.
We’ll help create the first dedicated Early Parenting Centre – investing $3.9 million for a centre in Frankston that’s completely dedicated to Aboriginal families and children.
And so that every young Victorian can experience storytime in their mother tongue, we’ll deliver multicultural story times across Victoria – strengthening our kids’ connection to their heritage and culture.
We will invest $6 million to deliver multicultural storytimes across Victoria, enabling councils and community groups to set up reading sessions at up to 60 locations in places like libraries, community centres and language schools for kids up to five in languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Italian and Greek.
Additionally, a re-elected Labor Government will invest $2 million in grants for the creation of more fathers groups across the state.
We’ve heard from many new dads that they want more support to be the best fathers they can be. These groups will provide more opportunities for dads to feel supported and connected in a peer-to-peer setting.
The funding will be distributed through local councils via a grants process and will focus on creating new after-hours dads groups and to support existing dads groups.
These investments are in stark contrast to Matthew Guy’s Liberals – who have already said they would cut the major expansion of the Royal Women’s Hospital’s new world class Arden campus and the 2,500 extra births and vital maternity services it would deliver.
Their track record shows they don’t care about new parents – they closed and privatised maternity services under the Kennett government, when Matthew Guy was a key adviser to the Premier.
And the next time they got the chance, they did it again – when Matthew Guy’s Liberals were last in government they cut $1 billion from health funding, sacked thousands of nurses and cut maternity beds.
Labor is proud of our record supporting new families. We introduced free car seat installation and safety checks so parents could rest assured their babies and kids were travelling safely – and we’re making kinder free across the state as part of our Best Start, Best Life program.
Labor is doing what matters – helping every family to be happy, healthy and supported through a time of enormous change in their lives.
Quotes attributable to Premier Daniel Andrews
“Every family is different, but what is universal is how a new baby will completely change your life. We’ll help parents feel supported and connected in those early weeks and months.”
“Labor is doing what matters by making sure new parents are better supported – both during pregnancy and once a new baby comes home.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas
“Matthew Guy’s Liberals can’t be trusted on women’s health – they want to cut Royal Women’s Hospital and they’ll go to war with health workers if they get the chance.”
“We’re supporting young families both before and after the birth of a young one, while Matthew Guy’s Liberals promise to cut and close services for parents.”
Quote attributable to Member for Northcote Kat Theophanous
“Pregnancy, childbirth and parenting affect us in all kinds of ways. This centre will provide vital support for parents in and around Northcote as they grow their families – a place of care during the early stages of their babies’ lives.”
