OPINION

Today, The Sunday Telegraph reports that new babies born in NSW are set to receive $150 worth of free gifts as part of the NSW Government’s $157 million parenting package to be unveiled in the state budget this week.

With 90,000 babies born in NSW annually, this will cost taxpayers a staggering $13.5 million every year.

The “baby bundles”, as they’re being called, contain an infant sleeping bag, baby swaddle, nappies, change mat and children’s book, as well as breast pads, a thermometer, sanitiser, toothbrush and nappy rash cream.

The government says the packages, which also include pamphlets about baby care and health, will be “lifesaving”.

It’s difficult to see what’s “lifesaving” about $13.5 million dollars worth of bits and pieces that many parents will already have, almost all parents will only use for a short period of time.

They will do nothing to address the real problems that face Australian mothers and babies every day — things like peri- and post-natal depression, sudden infant death syndrome and household child safety.

The costs of these hampers compared to the money being earmarked for truly critical — and lifesaving — services for new parents is huge.

“Specialist peri-natal and infant mental health services” will receive a tiny $1.1 million in extra cash in the upcoming budget — a miserable amount considering antenatal and post-natal depression affects 1 in 5 Australian mothers.

Just $4.3 million will go towards more home nurse visits, a service that could be the difference between life and death for a struggling parent.

Suicide connected to peri-natal depression is one of the leading causes of maternal death in Australia, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. A packet of breast pads won’t do much to help that.

The hamper’s sleeping bag is supposed to help parents put their children to bed safely by discouraging dangerous blankets that have been shown to increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Yet there’s a much better item gifted to new parents in other parts of the world that has been shown to prevent SIDS.

The NSW baby hampers seem to have been modelled on the highly successful “Baby Box” scheme in Finland, where new parents are gifted with a similar box of newborn necessities, but with a few crucial differences.

In Finland, the actual box that holds the baby swag doubles as a bassinet and even comes with a flat, child-safe mattress.

This is a truly useful and potentially lifesaving item, as it gives parents an instant safe and SIDS-friendly place to put their baby to sleep. It’s been credited with giving Finland one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world.

No sign of a baby bed or mattress in the NSW baby box. While the exact boxes used in the Finnish model may not meet Australian safety standards, couldn’t the NSW government have found one that did?

Or here’s an even better idea. Put that $150 towards giving all new parents an accredited first aid course.

On average, 30 Australian children under the age of five drown every year.

A child is four times more likely to survive a near-drowning if their parents have CPR training, according to the 2015 NSW Study of Drowning and Near Drowning in Children study.

Many Australian parents have no idea what to do if their baby or child gets burned or scalded — a leading cause of injury to Australian infants and children, particularly toddlers.

Again, a first aid course could be lifesaving, in a way that a children’s story book — I think we can agree — would not.

At the very least the hampers should be means-tested so they only go to families who truly need them.

Many parents will receive these sorts of baby items from friends and relatives, or will already have them to hand down from previous children.

It’s easy to see why some parents are excited by this bag of swag. Everyone loves a freebie. But what they really is a flashy Band-Aid solution dreamt up by a government who hopes to dazzle new parents with bells and whistles rather than putting any real elbow grease into addressing real life problems.

NSW parents need common sense solutions — not a box of tricks.