Senator Corinne Mulholland joined by infant son for maiden speech to parliament
A Queensland senator has given her first speech to parliament with some adorable back-up, taking her baby son into the chamber with her.
Corinne Mulholland was elected as a Labor senator for Queensland in this year's May federal election.
She addressed parliament for the first time last night with her baby son Augie in her arms, acknowledging his bedtime was "fast approaching".
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Senator Corinne Mulholland in parliament with her baby son Augie. 9News
"I am praying Augie and I make it through this speech unscathed, so godspeed," she said.
In her speech, she extolled the experience of parents around the country.
"Augie is here not as a symbol but as a powerful reminder of why I am here. I'm a wife and a mum from the outer suburbs of Queensland," she said.
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Augie stole the show during the senator's maiden speech. 9News
"Mums and dads fundamentally belong in this chamber, not in theory but in the full, lived reality of working parents – the mess, the chaos, the juggle, the struggle and, of course, the magic and the mayhem that comes with raising children."
She said she hoped to bring some "mum energy" to the senate, recalling her experience on the campaign trail when she was still nursing Augie, then just three months old.
"It's not unlike other working parents who juggle returning to work with their caring responsibilities each and every day, and it has taken many, many parliamentarians decades to blaze a trail for working parents," she said.
"Now the responsibility is on the shoulders of everyone here to make this kind of modern workplace flexibility a reality for people outside of this building.
"I am committed to making the lives of working families just that little bit easier. I want families to have real choice and real flexibility in how, when and where they work."
Mulholland and Augie did make it through the speech unscathed - though Augie had to be handed off to other members of the chamber before his mum finished.
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