Firstly, thank you to everyone who has signed and shared the petition. We are truly grateful for your support! It has been noted by some of the health ministers already.

You may have heard the news, that on International Women's Day (8th March 2019), the COAG Health Council extended the exemption for the requirement for midwives to hold PII to provide birth at home services until December 2021.

This is certainly a positive result, considering that an insurance product has not yet been found. It will give women some short-term peace of mind around their place of birth and care provider. Midwives in private practice can continue to offer homebirth services to their clients... for now.

We must not become complacent because this fight is far from over. Homebirth remains on death row and will remain there until (best case) an insurance product is found, or (worst case) the government decides not to extend the exemption further.

MCA have sent letters to all state health ministers and the Federal health minister Greg Hunt requesting not only an extension to the exemption, but also consultation between consumers, midwives, insurers and the relevant health bodies to find a long term solution to this issue. The Australian College of Midwives are supportive of finding an insurance product for PPM's and we need to work together to find a suitable product that will not 'risk women out' or limit midwives' ability to practice. All stakeholder voices must be heard in order to find a solution that works for everyone.

Whether you personally support homebirth or not should not matter - this is about women's CHOICES.

As for the other demands we have made in our petition regarding funding reform: nothing has changed. No solutions have been proposed to current Australian maternity funding models, despite the positive impacts this could have on maternity care affordability for women and government, and on the care received by mothers and babies. Furthermore, the AMA continues to try and limit PPM's practices and women's access to midwives by interfering with Medicare related documents, restricting midwives autonomy and women’s choices. Women and babies are stuck in the middle of this turf war – it’s unacceptable that the AMA are continually interfering with our birthing frameworks, our Medicare rebates and what steps we need to jump through in order to access the models of care we desire, particularly if that is continuity of care with a known midwife.

To address the AMA’s interference in these documents and policies a rally will be held outside the AMA at 293 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria, on Thursday the 28th March from 2-4pm. More information can be found at this link - https://www.facebook.com/events/380436762747702/ If you have the opportunity, please come along, show your support, bring your banners and children, and make some noise.

Please stay tuned as we continue to fight for Australian women's rights in birth. Continue sharing our petition and social media posts to keep awareness of this issue front and centre. Sarah from Life & Lens Photography has made a new video for us which summarises this update - please share it widely!