Fed: MP said her pregnancy could have become election issue

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2001
Fed: MP said her pregnancy could have become election issue

Federal MP ANNA BURKE says she decided against revealing her pregnancy during the recent
election campaign because she feared her pregnancy could cloud her re-election bid.

Ms BURKE, the Labor member for the Victorian seat of Chisholm, has revealed she was
six months pregnant with her second child but was worried her pregnancy could have become
a public distraction during the campaign.

Ms Burke says she wanted to be judged on assessed as whether I had or hadn't done a
good job as the federal member for Chisholm and also Anna Burke the member of the ALP,
to be judged by my party as well, and not to have the issue cloud the debate," she told
ABC radio.

"And unfortunately it does cloud the debate and if it hadn't I probably wouldn't have
got so many calls from radio stations this morning."

Last month Prime Minister John Howard ruled former sports minister Jackie Kelly out
of the ministry after the pregnant MP asked not to be considered for family reasons.

Ms Burke, who gave birth to her first child Madeleine, two, during her first term in
office, said she was amazed pregnancy in the workforce was still an issue.

"I was amazed and agog that still in this day and age there has to be so much comment
about a female being pregnant in the workforce," she said.

"The issue for me was I wanted to be assessed as me and not to have anything else putting
another spin on it, so to speak ... it was a personal choice I made."

Ms Burke revealed her pregnancy in a letter to The Age newspaper and later defended
her decision not to tell her constituents.

"What difference does it make to them in the long run ... on the whole I think it was
an issue for me and my husband about having the child and it's a choice that a lot of
women have to face in the workforce and I showed last time I was capable of mixing the
two," she said.

AAP RTV ac/gfr

KEYWORD: BURKE (MELBOURNE)

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