The New England region’s own maternal health advocate Jen Laurie has been busy herding up support for significant government investment in rural maternity services.
The mustering started with the 2024 launch of the Her Herd podcast, which presented real life stories from new mums in rural and remote regions across the state.
The engaging and emotional conversations, which include a few chats with new dads, have struck a chord with rural communities and health professionals. They also inspired Jen to launch a ‘Bush Babies’ campaign ahead of the NSW State Budget.
The campaign calls for an immediate halt to further closures of rural maternity services, an independent inquiry into regional care, and a sustained investment in safe, community-led maternity care across the state.
“The Her Herd podcast began as a space to centre the voices and stories of rural, regional, and remote women navigating pregnancy, birth, and early parenting,” Jen explained.
“For too long, these stories have been overlooked, and the reality of birthing in the bush – the challenges, the resilience, the trauma, and the strength – hasn’t been meaningfully captured in policy or media.”
The podcast was bred from Jen’s Her Herd perinatal mental health practice in Armidale which supports women through the vulnerable life stages of fertility, pregnancy, birth and parenting in the early years.
“As more women came forward, it became clear this wasn’t just a storytelling platform – it was a movement. What started with a few conversations quickly grew into a much broader community of women, midwives, doctors, and families who were all saying the that we’re being left behind.”
“That’s what led to the Bush Babies 2025 petition and campaign. It was launched to give structure and weight to the stories we’ve heard through the podcast – to move from conversation to action.”
That action has included meeting with Health Minister Ryan Park and imploring him to join her on a maternity health tour of regional NSW and the petition led to regional MPs backing the campaign in Parliament.
As a country mother herself, Jen believes every family deserves access to the support they need to help them be present and enjoy their parenting journey. Some of her community herding ability likely comes from living the sheep farming life with husband Chris on a family farm at Uralla.
“This is deeply personal work, and it’s powered by the people who live it. The podcast gave us the voices. The petition gives us the platform. Together, they tell the truth about what’s happening – and what needs to change.”
“The 2025 Progress Report from the NSW Parliamentary Committee into Regional, Rural and Remote Health delivers a sobering assessment of maternity care across non-metropolitan New South Wales.”
“More than 140 rural maternity services have closed since 1990, with the pace accelerating in recent years. The report confirms the recent loss of services in Muswellbrook, Parkes, Cootamundra, Milton-Ulladulla, Gunnedah and Woy Woy.
Maternity services feature in State Budget
There was some good news for regional maternity services in in the 2025-2026 NSW Budget with the inclusion of $83.87 million in funding for a Maternity Care and First 2,000 days package.
The package includes $44.8 million to increase access to midwifery continuity of care models, and an additional 53 full-time equivalent midwives in regional NSW. There is also $26.8 million to maintain seven family care centres and five mobile services in regional and rural NSW.
“Any investment in rural maternity care is a step in the right direction – but we need clarity,” Jen said.
“What does regional actually mean in this announcement? If these 53 midwives are all heading to already-centralised hospitals like Tamworth or Wagga, then this isn’t fixing the rural crisis, it’s just reinforcing it.”
“The families we work with often live well beyond the reach of regional hubs, sometimes two or three hours away, with little or no access to local maternity care.”
The Bush Babies campaign called for bundled funding for maternity care in the Budget to ensure all women have access to quality maternity care and an investigation into the decline of rural and remote maternity services
“It’s clear to us that Minister Ryan Park genuinely cares about rural people. His response to our petition acknowledged the depth of feeling in these communities, and we welcome that.”
“But to truly understand the impact of these decisions, we need the Minister to come and meet with the people living it. The women. The midwives. The doctors. The families who are doing their best in impossible situations. Our invitation to Minister Park to meet with the Her Herd community remains open anytime, anywhere.”
“Because until you’ve sat in their homes, heard their stories, and walked in their shoes, you can’t possibly understand what’s at stake.”
The Australian College of Midwives (ACM) said the budget investment speaks to the need to grow and advance the maternity workforce in regional areas.
“Whilst we applaud the significant investment in midwifery led care in this budget, ACM is disappointed that a Chief Midwife position is not included,” said ACM’s Chief Midwife Alison Weatherstone.
“This role was created in QLD more than 12 months ago and we’ve seen first-hand the advancement in maternity care and consequent impact on women and families this role has had in this time.”
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