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About Maternity Consumer Network
Maternity Consumer Network is Australia's largest maternity consumer organisation with over 1300 member and member organisations. We are not-for-profit organization, non-political and non-sectarian consumer network who provides support in maternity services, advocacy, information sharing, strategic direction for campaigns as well as Respectful Maternity Care Training. We are dedicated to advocating for improvements in maternity care in Australia through the implementation of the Woman Centered Care: strategic Directions for Australian Maternity Services. We have successfully amplified the voice of maternity consumers at all levels of government and service delivery level.
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​Our Founder, Alecia Staines, created MCN as the maternity advocacy space was lacking an organization that had political aptitude. In 2016, MCN was founded with a group of mums on the Darling Downs, Queensland, and with guidance from Justine Caines OAM, soon grew exponentially. And whilst all of the other founding women moved onto other volunteering roles, Alecia continued to grow the organization across Australia, running some of the biggest maternity reform campaigns we have seen in this space since the 2000s.
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Our Committee is now made up of a diverse range of women- migrant, rural, metropolitan women, from women who've had surgical births to women who've birthed at home, from all States in Australia. Ultimately, we believe our Committee should represent the diversity in maternity consumers across Australia.
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We have a vibrant network of maternity consumer representatives at local health service level to ensure maternity services are based on community needs. We have many smaller maternity organisation membership, which we share resources, campaign strategies and provide ongoing mentoring to.
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It is a blight on our nation that one third of women walk away from birth traumatised, with most of it due to obstetric violence. Yet on the other hand, we have women not being able to access maternity services or a known midwife at all.
Alecia Staines, Founder
Achievements:
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(2017-18) Award nominated Bush Baby media campaign, resulting in the Rural Maternity Taskforce, subsequent report and Growing Deadly Families strategy in Queensland
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(2017-18) Under former Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, we ensured a commitment to develop a new national maternity strategy, we were subsequently on the Project Reference Group. It was published in 2019 and titled: Woman Centered Care: strategic Directions for Australian Maternity Services.
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(2021) Requested Minister Hunt to evaluate the Woman Centered Care Strategy. Published in 2023.
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(2019-2020) Award nominated media piece on birth trauma Inside the birth suite: why women are left traumatised by birth - ABC listen
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(2018) Project Reference group for reviewing private midwifery Medicare Items and subsequent Implementation Liaison Group
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(2021) Created Australia's first Respectful Maternity Care Training, titled "Better Births with Consent"
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(2022) Provided advice to ACT Government on their Maternity in Focus Plan
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(2022-2024) Represented women from Wagga Wagga, NSW MP, Emma Hurst and investigative journalist, Penny Burfitt to instigate the NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry. Made a subsequent submission with over 700 birth stories.
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(2023) Recruited for the Living Evidence pre and postnatal Guidelines Consumer Panel and subsequent Guidelines
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(2023) Created Australia's first Perinatal Trauma Prevention Guidelines
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(2024) Speeches in Federal Parliament: Senator Larissa Waters during Estimates asked about the Homebirth risk category and made a subsequent speech. Llew O'Brien MP raised a motion about rural maternity services. Eight MPs from all sides of politics spoke in support of continuity of midwifery carer and local birthing options.
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(2023-24) Rural Maternity Framework editing group
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​(2022-24) Queensland Birth Strategy Collaborative
Priorities
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universal access to continuity of midwifery carer
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local maternity services
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transparency in perinatal data
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reduce birth trauma by eliminating obstetric violence
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funding reform to ensure more equity in access to maternity care
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culturally appropriate maternity care
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Respectful Maternity Care training
For maternity care to truly be woman centered, it needs to have women lead, design and evaluate the care they receive.
Our Mission
Our mission is to advocate for improved maternity care in Australia, ensuring that every woman receives the support and respect she deserves. We continue to advocate for full implementation the Woman Centred Care: Strategic Directions for Australian Maternity Services.
Our Vision
A world class maternity system centred on women and their local communities, where every woman has access to a known midwife in a birthplace of choice, with her culture, autonomy and values upheld.