The Australian lawmaker who made history last month for becoming the first politician to breastfeed in federal parliament has achieved another first when she passed a motion in Senate as she nursed her daughter.
Greens Sen. Larissa Waters was in the middle of breastfeeding her three-month-old daughter Alia Joy in the Senate chamber on Wednesday when she was called to pass a motion on black lung disease.
The Queensland mother, with a white towel draped over her shoulder, confidently stood in the chamber and read out her the motion as she cradled her nursing daughter in her arms.
The Senator’s fellow colleagues could be seen smiling behind her in video of the proceedings and Greens leader Sen. Richard Di Natalie was even seen holding the adorable infant later.
Waters tweeted about the event later that day.
“First time I’ve had to move a Senate motion while breastfeeding! And my partner in crime moved her own motion just before mine, bless her.”
Waters made international headlines in May when she became the first politician to breastfeed her baby in federal Parliament in Australia. Since then, little Alia Joy has made regular appearances in the Senate chamber and even attended a charity ball for politicians and journalists.
The mother of two has been outspoken about urging more women and parents in Parliament since she returned from her maternity leave in March.
Last year, Waters helped expand breastfeeding rules in the Senate last year so that new parents can care for their infants while on the Parliament floor.
The Australian Parliament has come a long way since Greens member Sarah Hanson-Young stirred up controversy when her two-year-old daughter was taken from her arms and removed from the Senate chamber in 2009 in accordance with Parliament policy.
