‘Just get mum to do it’: Aussie CEO calls out Qantas staffer over nappy change remark

Exclusive: A Canberra businessman has called out a Qantas staffer for an inappropriate remark after he couldn’t find a space to change his toddler’s nappy in an airport lounge.

Samuel Spencer had just arrived with his family in Sydney following a 14-hour journey and wanted to give his wife a break to “stretch her legs” before their final flight to the ACT.

His young son urgently needed a nappy change and he quickly discovered there were no change facilities in the men’s room at the Qantas airport lounge.

When he spoke to a Qantas employee about where to find an appropriate place to change his son, he was met with a curious response: “Just get mum to do it.”

“It had been a long day and a long flight, and both of us try to do about 60 per cent of the parenting… we’ve done a pretty equitable split since Teddy came along,” the Aristotle Metadata chief executive and co-founder told nine.com.au.

“So I go into the men’s room, and I’m looking around, and I can’t see anything.”

The only option was to change his son’s nappy in the disabled toilet, which had a long line, or change him on the floor.

Read more

Pubs in Australia are going pokies-free. For these Sydney venues, it was the secret to success

Spencer asked a Qantas staff member where he could access the nearest gender-neutral changing room.

“That’s when they said: ‘Why don’t you just get mum to do it for you?’” Spencer recalled.

“I just said, ‘Come on. That’s not how it is nowadays.’

“Men need access to this stuff too.”

The father-of-one said he was affronted by the dismissive comment.

Read more

‘Our small town may die’: This NSW country town is in danger of disappearing

His wife Lauren, with whom he co-runs his business, was “equally disappointed”, Spencer added.

It unnerved the couple to learn that a woman is still often considered the default parent.

“Doesn’t that reinforce the stereotype that mums are primary carers, and dads are just there as a backup?” he said.

“It kind of fails to recognise that I want to be a dad, we share the load and I want to be doing these things.

“I changed the first poopy diaper, and maybe I’ll change the last.”

Spencer was eventually directed into the Qantas business lounge, where the only solution was using the free disabled toilet.

While there are gender-neutral options around the airport terminal, similar facilities are yet to be installed inside the lounges.

Baby change facilities are not federally mandated in Australia.

Some local councils require them for public or high-traffic venues. 

There is no universal law requiring venues to install gender-neutral change facilities either. 

The experience left Spencer wondering how much progress had really been made to erase the trope of a dad simply being a “babysitter”.

He contacted Qantas to complain and was told the airline would immediately investigate retrofitting change tables across the Sydney lounges.

The airline asked if he would name the staff member who made the comment but Spencer did not want their job to be impacted.

In a statement to nine.com.au, a spokesperson for Qantas said the airline apologises to Spencer and “understand[s] how important it is that baby changing facilities are accessible to all parents”.

“As a first step, we’re investigating the installation of change tables in the male bathrooms across our Sydney lounges,” the spokesperson said.

“We are also installing clearer signage in our Sydney lounges in the coming weeks to help customers identify change facilities more easily.”

Read more

Old street directory in stranger’s home could unlock 30-year cold case in Victoria

The airline is looking to improve baby change access at other lounges too.

Spencer said the problem is not exclusive to the Sydney Qantas lounge.

Change table access remains a persistent issue for fathers.

UK-based charity Love & Power is running its own campaign to improve change table access in public bathrooms in Britain.

Spencer hopes he can encourage a similar movement here in Australia.

“From the chairman’s lounge to the truck stop, every place needs to have one. It’s just the right thing to do,” he said.

“A lot of the time, it is just chucked in the disabled area.

“But that just steals space from disabled travellers, that’s not the appropriate place for it.”