STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator GREEN (Queensland—Assistant Minister for Tourism, Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs and Assistant Minister for Northern Australia) (13:27): I take this opportunity to put on the record my thanks to Senator Payman for raising these issues around postpartum health. It is a very big issue that this government is really keen to hear about from women, and I want to acknowledge that pain and trauma that you experienced during your birth.

It's not an uncommon story. That's the truth of it. I was able to say to you privately after you spoke the other day that I had a very similar experience.

The truth is that so many women in Australia are having birth-trauma experiences for a range of reasons, and we really want to understand what those reasons are. The select committee that is being championed by Senator Marielle Smith—but supported around the chamber, it must be said, by women across party lines—will be an opportunity for these stories to be told.

There was a very similar inquiry in New South Wales a few years ago, and it uncovered terrible stories of treatment that we hear from time to time in the news but that we just don't hear enough of. The impact of having a traumatic birth or a terrible experience in a hospital after you have a baby can really impact your ability to parent, your ability to bond with that child and the desire to have another child or be pregnant again.

That's something that no woman should really have to deal with. Participating in this inquiry is an opportunity that Australian women should not miss. It's an opportunity for the Senate to really shine in what it is able to achieve in terms of policy changes at a state and federal level, and I really do encourage everyone to participate.

While I'm on my feet and talking about the joys of pregnancy, I might just give a shout-out to our colleague Senator Mulholland, who is heavily pregnant right now, and she is still working. She literally stood up at a press conference today. I have given her the direct message that, once that baby is born, it will be time to put her feet up and take care of that child.

Hopefully, she will listen to us. I wanted to give a shout-out to her because she is doing an incredible job. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Sharma ): It being 1.30, we will now proceed to two-minute statements.