How to share your postpartum experience as a submission to the national inquiry
The Select Committee on Women’s Health is accepting submissions about postpartum healthcare and other women’s health issues. This is your opportunity to share your story with the committee and tell them what you believe should change.
Submissions are currently due by 9 October 2026.
Read more about why this inquiry is a rare opportunity to change postpartum care in Australia.
The easiest ways to make a submission
If you only have a few minutes, you can use our quick, templated submission form.
If you’d like to write a more personalised submission, but only have time to write a few paragraphs your submission could be as simple as sharing:
My postpartum experience was…
The support I needed was…
I would like the Australian Government to…
If you’d like to spend some more time writing your story the guide below is for you. Please keep your submission less than 4 - 5 pages.
If you’d like some support, find an online or in-person submission-writing event.
It may feel daunting to write about your experience, or you might wonder what to say. We’ve put together a short guide to make it easier for you.
First, imagine you’re writing to one friendly senator (who is also a mum) and wants to make postpartum care better. What would you want them to understand?
Next, choose the ideas below that help you tell your story. You don’t need to use them all—just focus on what feels most important to you.
Share your experience
You could write about one of these experiences, several of them, or something completely different. Describe what happened and what you want the committee to understand about it.
Did you experience…
Emotional and social challenges?
Exhaustion and overwhelm
Sleep deprivation
Loneliness and isolation
Feelings of shame, guilt, rage or failure
Feeling judged or blamed by family, friends or professionals
Barriers to receiving care?
Fragmented care
Conflicting advice from different providers
Jumping through hoops for appointments
Being unable to access help until you reached crisis point
Care that wasn’t culturally safe, inclusive or accessible where you lived
Physical and medical challenges?
Feeling that your concerns were dismissed
Physical injuries, persistent pain or pelvic-floor problems after birth
Breastfeeding challenges
Problems that persisted for much longer than you expected
Share some solutions
You can describe support you received, support you couldn’t access, or something you wish had existed. You can also explain if something was too expensive, took too long to access or wasn’t available where you lived. You can choose from the suggestions below, or write your own.
Would you have benefited from…
Support at home and in your community?
Services that come to the home
Practical help like cooking and cleaning
Community support like mother groups and peer support services
More help from friends and family
More accessible care?
Universal support without diagnosis and referral barriers
A longer postpartum-care window
Continuity of care
Culturally safe and inclusive care
Specialist care and reliable information?
Funded access to lactation consultants
Pelvic-floor assessment and rehabilitation
Trauma-informed care
Evidence-based infant-sleep information
What did a lack of support mean for you?
You might want to explain how inadequate support affected your health, your family or the choices available to you.
For example:
I spent most of my days alone with my baby, which affected my mental health.
I had to pay privately for care that I couldn’t afford to go without.
I stopped breastfeeding before I was ready.
My relationships, work or ability to participate in everyday life were affected.
I would have loved to have another baby, but I couldn’t go through that experience again.
What difference did good support make for you?
Positive experiences are valuable too. They can help the committee understand what works and what should be available to more families.
For example:
Practical support gave me time to rest, recover and care for my baby.
Having one trusted professional meant I didn’t have to keep retelling my story and sharing my goals.
I felt heard and understood, and began to feel stronger and safer.
I was able to continue breastfeeding for as long as I wanted because of my breastfeeding support group.
I made close friends through my mothers’ group who are still part of my life.
My postpartum experience was so positive that I felt ready and confident to have another baby.
Finished your submission?
Well done—you may be helping to shape the future of postpartum care for mothers and families across Australia!
Writing about your postpartum experience may bring up complex emotions. Please take care of yourself and seek support if you need it.
Thank you for caring about postpartum.
How to make a submission
If you only have a few minutes, you can use our quick, templated submission form.
If you’ve written your own personal story, you can simply email your submission to the Committee Secretariat womenshealth.sen@aph.gov.au but if you do this your submission will not be private and it will be published on the internet.
If you would like your submission to be private and read by the committee, but not published on the internet, please create an account and upload your submission here.
