Wellington - As New Zealand lawmakers
vigorously debated fuel prices in parliament this week, speaker
Trevor Mallard called for order while feeding baby Tūtānekai his
bottle.
The six-week-old son of Labour MP Tāmati Coffey and his
husband, born via a surrogate mother last month, was being
cuddled by his father in the debating chamber on Wednesday when
the speaker offered to hold him.
"There are times when I can be vaguely useful," Mallard told
Reuters, adding that he tried to help care for lawmakers' babies
when possible.
The newborn joins many other babies in the legislature after
Mallard relaxed rules in 2017 to make parliament more
child-friendly.
About a dozen MPs have had infants in a parliamentary baby
boom, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last year became New
Zealand's first premier to take maternity leave and the world's
second elected leader to give birth in office.
Her daughter Neve Te Aroha made headlines in September when
she accompanied Ardern to the United Nations General Assembly in
New York.
But worker rights advocates told Reuters that few New
Zealanders get the same rights to balance caring for their
families with work, and they hope the high-profile parliamentary
babies will bring a wider change in working conditions.
Speaker Trevor Mallard holding a Member of Parliament’s baby during a parliamentary session in Wellington. Picture: New Zealand Parliament and Speaker's Office/Handout via Reuters
Tania Te Whenua, a Māori lawyer who is working on a case for
New Zealand's largest union, the Public Service Association,
alleging discrimination against indigenous Māori women
employees, said she had felt hostility in previous workplaces
over her young children visiting her at work.
"The ability to have, nurture and raise children is a
celebrated aspect of Māori culture....and to be made to feel as
though that is frowned upon in the workplace leaves Māori
feeling like the outsider," she said.
She expressed support for the parliament speaker's family
policies.
Mallard, a political veteran, and father of three adult
children, with six grandchildren, hoped more employers would
follow his lead.
"What I've found is that it adds to the positive atmosphere
of the workplace," he said, adding that he regularly encountered
babies in the halls of power and even the indoor parliamentary
swimming pool.
Their presence provides a boost to morale, evidenced from
the eagerness of official messengers to swap their usual
document deliveries for the task of taking an infant into
parliament instead, he said.
"When there's a baby to be carried in....there's a fair bit
of competition to do the job," said Mallard.