Children in the parliamentary chambers

• Mark Rodrigues
• Parliamentary Library

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01 December 2009• On 18 June 2009, the President of the Senate ruled that a child of a Senator be removed from the chamber. Formal parliamentary procedures do not allow for senators or members to bring their children onto floor of the Senate and House of Representatives chamber. The only exception is for breastfeeding mothers in the Senate.

• The rules on the admittance of visitors or ‘strangers’ within the parliamentary chambers have a long history in the Westminster tradition of parliamentary practice. Only in the last 20 years have these ancient provisions been revised.

• Over the past 30 years there has been a dramatic increase in the representation of women in Parliament and some of them have given birth while in office. Since the 1990s a number of parents have defied the rules and brought a child onto the floor of the chamber.

• In response to changing values, new procedures and facilities have been developed in parliament that attempt to address the needs of senators and members who are parents of young children. These include the establishment of a childcare centre within Parliament House, measures to support breastfeeding and enabling proxy voting for nursing mothers in the House of Representatives.

• The issue of allowing senators and members to take their children onto the floor of the parliamentary chambers cuts across a number of conflicting values. These values concern the requirements of a modern workplace, the importance of a representative parliament, the need to provide a safe working environment free from disturbance and the importance of upholding the Westminster tradition of parliamentary practice.