The Greens are celebrating the first reading last night of new ACC legislation to better support birth injuries after a successful campaign achieved record support.

“Becoming a new parent is one of the most wonderful, but also most challenging times in many people’s lives, and all too often the pain and trauma of birth injuries too often goes unheard and untreated,” says Green spokesperson for ACC Jan Logie.

“Tens of thousands of people signed our open letter, and many parents wrote to us with their stories of physical and mental birth trauma – we are proud to deliver this win for them.

“But we want to push the Minister to go even further so the disparities we see in coverage right now are not continued.

“Birth injuries add another layer of stress in a very vulnerable time for both parents and babies; we should and can provide support to new parents nurturing the next generation.

“All birth injuries need to be covered, not just a limited list of common birth injuries. We welcome this Bill but we will be pushing for a non-exhaustive list of birth injuries, coverage for standalone mental trauma, coverage for babies injured during birth, and retrospective support for parents with existing injuries.

“No matter the injury, it is an unintended consequence of childbirth and ignoring these injuries can cause further harm.”

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