Child ejected from senate

THE ejection from Australia’s senate of a member’s two-year-old daughter, who subsequently screamed in distress, ignited a national debate yesterday about whether parents should take their children to work.

First-time mother Senator Sarah Hanson-Young couldn’t find anyone to look after her daughter Kora while she voted in the senate late on Thursday, so she took the girl into the chamber with her. The child played quietly for several minutes before senate president John Hogg ordered her to be ejected.

Kora screamed in distress as a member of senate staff took her from her mother’s arms and out of the senate door.

“We can’t allow children to be in here for a division,” Hogg told Hanson-Young.

Senate rules allow senators to nurse infants in the chambers, but otherwise only senators and attendants are permitted inside. The parliament opened its first child care centre this year.

The incident dominated news broadcasts with callers split over whether children should be allowed into a place of work.