The coronavirus flips federal politics on its head, sending politicians into their homes and forcing them to work remotely. But the deadly pandemic is also proving an opportunity for female MPs to overhaul federal political life.
A green square inside her clock is flashing as bells ring throughout the building.
Coronavirus restrictions mean there are limits on the number of politicians that can enter the chambers. It means rosters now dictate whether a politician needs to respond to bells and flashing lights. United in their experience, the mothers are seeking to modernise federal political life in the hope they can blaze a trail for others to follow behind them."There are going to be babies."Secret pregnancies and Zoom meetings
"You think other politicians might not feel so kindly towards being completely gate-crashed but he took it in very good spirits and then popped by later and said 'do you need a car seat?' and then the next day the car seat came in.But when it came to announcing a pregnancy while in office, Wells was less confident about how it would be received.
The first female Member for Bendigo and a member of Labor's shrinking country caucus, she found herself demoted under Anthony Albanese's post-election leadership. The South Australian has had two children while a Labor frontbencher, including being heavily pregnant during the 2019 campaign. "Of course there's a role for that, sometimes you do need to see things first hand, but I really do think that doing more of this has a real benefit for both family flexibility but also being able to do your job more efficiently."It's been a similar experience for Victorian state opposition frontbencher Steph Ryan, a Nationals MP who had her first child in July."If we were in a normal world, it would be completely chaotic and quite difficult to juggle," Ryan says.
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