From bottle feeding infants in the chamber to a playground on the front lawn, speaker Trevor Mallard has welcomed infants into the corridors of power

Trevor Mallard thought his days nursing babies might be over when he became speaker of New Zealand’s parliament in late 2017.

But the grandfather who has raised three children of his own has overseen a baby boom in the Beehive – as the most recognisable building in the parliamentary complex is known – and has become determined to make life easier for parents in the country’s halls of power.

“I think whenever you have babies and dogs around it takes some of the tension out,” says Mallard, who has also allowed canines into parliament.

“People tend to work together a bit better. The overall thing for me is to encourage a broader range of individuals to run for parliament or stay in parliament and have kids at the same time; I want to make parliament more representative [of New Zealand].”

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A video of Mallard giving an MP’s infant a bottle while presiding over the house went viral last week but the scene has become familiar in New Zealanders, with Mallard often cradling infants in the chamber to allow their parents to debate.

Around the world, parliaments have been slow to adopt family-friendly work practices. This month a Kenyan MP was kicked out when she brought her baby into the debating chambers due to a childcare emergency. In 2017 a female politician was forced to leave the chamber in Japan after her colleagues objected to the presence of her seven-month-old child.

But the Beehive has seen the birth of 12 babies to MPs in two years, prompting Mallard to rethink rules regarding infants in the house.

“I have been in parliament a long time and I have seen younger members struggle with the dilemma; especially of being mothers here,” he says.

Mallard recalls the experience of Greens MP Holly Walker, who wrote a book about the stress of working in parliament and having a child. Walker left parliament in 2014 suffering from burnout, anxiety and post-natal depression. Recently Walker had her second child – and Mallard appeared on the doorstep with containers of pasta bake.

He says with MPs working 80 to 120 hours a week; it can be hard figuring out where families fit in. “I thought to myself ‘this cannot continue’,” he says.

Among those benefiting from the child-friendly policy is prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who gave birth to daughter Neve in 2018. Neve frequently accompanies her mother to work – usually with her father Clarke Gayford in tow – and a small nursery and changing facilities were installed for her in what was previously a tea room in the PM’s ninth-floor office.

Labour MP Tāmati Coffey is the newest father in parliament, and has just returned from six weeks of parental leave with his partner Tim. His seven-week old son Tūtānekai was the young infant being fed on Mallard’s lap last week.

“I’m pretty sure there was a bit of baby vomit on the speaker’s gown ... when he went to go and burp him more than a bit of air came up – but that was cool,” says Coffey, who praised the speaker as “so hands on”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Beehive in Wellington Photograph: eye35.pix/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Stock Photo

“It’s been really lovely to have colleagues rallying around us at this time. Parliament can be quite a stoic, cold place and actually having babies around really softens the whole environment and softens the people and the energy in parliament as well.”

Coffey, who lives in Rotorua, has been granted leave by the speaker on Thursday afternoons so he can catch the last flight home to be with his young family. This is a privilege he would like to see extended to more MPs with families in regional centres.

“I think it’s really important. Yeah we go to Wellington and we do the hard yards, but we’re also family people and we need to encourage that balance.’”

Dave Wills, manager of buildings and safety at parliament house, is overseeing the construction of a children’s playground on parliament’s front lawn, and planning an overhaul of the main family room; now shared by MPs and parliamentary staff.

The atmosphere is lighter somehow – it does feel quite welcoming now Dave Wills, building manager at parliament house

Better changing and breast-pumping facilities are also in the pipeline, and a veggie patch for local children has been planted on the speaker’s lawn. When a rabbit ate the vegetables recently, parliamentary staff secretly replanted the patch, Wills says.

Children are also welcome in the indoor swimming pool, and Wills says the aqua aerobics class at lunchtime is popular with new parents. The only place children are not allowed, says Wills, are “the special security rooms that every government has to have”.

Child-friendly changes extend to allowing MPs easier access to leave if they have a childcare emergency – even if important legislation is being debated in the house.

“[Post election] we intentionally placed new parents closer to suitable facilities so they had things like ensuites and shower and toilet facilities and slightly roomier offices than what other people have,” Wills says.

“The atmosphere is lighter somehow – it does feel quite welcoming now. And people certainly feel a bit more empowered.”

But for Mallard there is more to be done. At present, only messengers are allowed to carry infants into the house, and Mallard would like carers to also have that ability, particularly if a child is anxious or clingy.

Opposition to the changes remains from some MPs, Mallard says, but in his opinion, they are out of touch.

“The world is changing. It takes some people a bit longer to understand the direction it’s going.”















