Politics

Federal

Abortion

Opinion

Jacqueline Maley Columnist and senior journalist November 2, 2025 — 5.00am

Politics can be a cynical and nasty business, but outbreaks of grace and compassion do occur. One happened on Wednesday during a parliamentary debate for the second reading speech of “Baby Priya’s Bill”.

MP after MP rose to speak with sensitivity about one of life’s most devastating experiences – the birth of a stillborn baby.

The bill will amend workplace laws to ensure employee entitlements to parental leave extend to parents whose baby has been stillborn, or who has tragically died in infancy. The bill is named after baby Priya, who was born prematurely at 24 weeks in June 2024. For six weeks, she battled for life in the neonatal intensive care unit. Then she died.

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