2026-06-10
The ACT Greens have joined midwives and advocates in criticising the ACT Government's plans for the northside birth centre.
"In 2023 I tabled a petition with over 3000 signatures calling for a Freestanding Birth Centre for Canberra. That very same day the Assembly passed my motion unanimously, which called for a feasibility study to establish a co-designed midwife led freestanding birth centre, located alongside or fully separate to the new northside hospital," said ACT Greens Leader, Jo Clay.
"The Government's own feasibility study recommended a standalone birth centre - importantly separate to the hospital - delivering pregnancy and birth care in a safe, supported and non-clinical setting.
"What the Government has announced this past week does not fulfil their commitment, meet the recommendations from the feasibility study or address the concerns raised by midwives and consumers.
"What the Government has announced doesn’t actually increase the overall number of beds available. The Government is simply playing smoke and mirrors and hoping the community doesn’t notice.
"Hospitals are a vital part of pregnancy and birth care and many women and birthing people want or need to give birth in a hospital.
"But they can also be really stressful places, which can lead to a cascade of interventions. Evidence shows that birth centres provide improved outcomes for women or birthing people and their babies.
"The Northside Hospital already has a two-bed birth centre located inside the hospital, in addition to their standard six birth suites. This in-hospital birth centre is a good option for many women and birthing people, but it's oversubscribed and difficult to access.
"We absolutely need more birth centre beds - but hospital birth centre beds are not the same as freestanding birth centre beds. We need both.
"Not only are they trying to disguise this as something it's not, they have gaslit the community along the way by completely failing in their commitment to co-design with the community.
"Co-design is a very specific design methodology that entails working with the end-users to design something that address the problem they’re facing - as they see it.
"Participants engaged with the process thinking they would be asked to share their views on models of care, location and services, but instead they were asked to choose paint colours.
"The sector is not asking for a coat of paint, they are asking for an alternative place of birth," said Ms Clay.
Canberra mother and advocate, Abbie McMillan-Maher, expressed her disappointment that the Government did not fulfill its commitment to genuine co-design with the community.
"The work we did in 2023, supported by thousands of Canberrans, resulted in a commitment from the Government to co-design a freestanding birth centre," said Ms McMillan-Maher.
"Despite this commitment, participants at the consultation roundtable were informed that the location would be in the main hospital building and that alternative options had already been ruled out.
"No meaningful co-design was undertaken regarding the most significant decisions: the location of the birth centre, the number of birth rooms, or the overall size and scope of the service.
"Instead, participants were asked to provide feedback on matters such as lighting, room layout and interior design.
"As someone who birthed in the Canberra Birth Centre, I know firsthand the difference that environment can make. The birth centre provided a calm, empowering space that supported physiological birth and informed decision-making. However, having to enter and move through a busy hospital environment to access that space felt completely at odds with the birth centre philosophy.
"Hospitals play a vital role in caring for people who are unwell, but pregnancy and birth are not illnesses. A truly freestanding birth centre offers a distinct environment that supports physiological birth while maintaining appropriate pathways for escalation of care when needed.
"I am calling on the ACT Government to honour their commitment to genuine consideration of a freestanding birth centre model. At a minimum, consumers, midwives and community representatives must be meaningfully involved in decisions about location, capacity and service design.
"Canberrans deserve a co-design process that genuinely listens to the community, not one that asks for input after the most important decisions have already been made," said Ms Abbie McMillan-Maher.
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