22/07/2026
What happened when we sat at the table. A fascinating intelligent, concerning, but inspiring conversation. Having different perspectives is crucial...... Midwives, doulas, women, politicians, mothers, families, grandmas, The discussion raised several clear themes.
1. Women and families need clearer information earlier.
A strong theme was that many women do not know what their maternity care options are, or where to find clear, non-biased information. Options such as midwifery continuity of care, shared-care midwives, private midwives, home birth, birth centres, public home birth and Medicare-eligible midwives are not well understood or easily visible.
There was concern that women often only learn about these options through friends, podcasts, personal searching, or after a difficult experience — rather than being given clear information from the beginning.
2. The system feels fragmented.
Participants identified a lack of connection between GPs, hospitals, obstetricians, private midwives, hospital midwives, doulas, paramedics, community organisations and postnatal services. Women and families are often left to navigate the gaps themselves.
A key question was: where should women go for local, reliable maternity care information if it is not clearly coming through GP referral pathways?
3. Fear and stigma affect women’s choices.
The group discussed the role of fear, traumatic birth stories, stigma around home birth and freebirth, and the difficulty women can have speaking openly about what they want. Some women may feel too scared to discuss home birth, while others may feel so unsafe or unheard in hospital systems that they move further outside formal care.
This was seen as a safety issue, not simply a “choice” issue.
4. Midwife-led continuity of care should be more visible and accessible.
There was strong support for raising awareness of midwife-led care and making continuity of midwifery care easier for women to understand and access. The group discussed the idea of community education sessions where women and families can meet midwives and learn about local maternity care options before or early in pregnancy.
5. Birth centres and publicly funded home birth should be explored.
The absence of local birth centre options was raised, along with the need to explore publicly funded home birth and expanded access to MGP. The discussion recognised that not every woman wants home birth, but many women want physiological, midwife-led care in a setting that is not standard hospital care.
6. Partners and families need to be included.
The group identified that partners, especially men, need to be part of pregnancy and birth education. Families need support to understand physiology, advocacy, informed decision-making, and how to support women through pregnancy, birth and early parenting.
7. Postnatal support is part of maternity care.
The discussion also highlighted the need for stronger support after birth, including community support from late pregnancy through the first six months postpartum, postnatal groups, parenting support, breastfeeding support, anxiety support, and education around newborn communication and baby cues.
8. This conversation should continue.
There was interest in meeting again in approximately one month and continuing to build a local network focused on clearer information, continuity of care and better connection between maternity and early parenting services in Bayside.
