No need for breastfeeding legislation, hospitality boss says

Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson says there is no need for legislation that would enable woman to breastfeed in public without discrimination.

The Infant Feeding Bill which is being drafted by Labour MP Steve Chadwick will ensure mothers can breastfeed their babies wherever they are.

The bill has been put in the ballot box for members' bills and has to wait to be drawn before it goes on Parliament's agenda.

Mr Robertson said he did not believe there was a problem in the hospitality industry as long as women breastfeed in a respectful way.

He said no one in the hospitality industry had complained to him about women breastfeeding in their cafes or restaurants.

"[Complaints] will occur and have occurred but it is such a minor occurrence that doesn't warrant legislation."

But La Leche League New Zealand director Barbara Sturmfels said there was still a need for legislation.

She said that at the moment people still felt they had a right to ask mothers to move when they were breastfeeding.

"Some mothers still feel reluctant to breastfeed because they fear a negative reaction."

Auckland woman Liz Weatherly made a complaint to the Human Rights Commission in 2003 when she was asked to move from a pre-school while breastfeeding her child.

There had been a shift in attitude about breastfeeding but there still needed to be a "backstop" in the event of further cases.

She said it would end discrimination against breastfeeding mothers by changing the Human Rights Act.

Rotorua MP Ms Chadwick, a former midwife, gave these examples of discrimination:

* a breastfeeding mother was asked to leave the library at Te Papa after being told it might offend other people;

* a group of young mothers who were breastfeeding their babies in a Dunedin cafe were asked to stop, and when they refused they were told to leave because they were displaying "the wrong image";

* a nurse in a public hospital had to sit on a toilet when she expressed milk because there were no facilities.

- NZPA