Ms Geraldine Cahill:

Yes. To answer the Senator's question on the cost, lactation consultants in private practice usually give a patient two hours. That is a huge difference in timing. Referrals could be made to lactation consultants in private practice. Public health nurses spend a maximum on 20 minutes with a mother. If, upon the identification of a problem, they could refer a mother on to a private lactation consultant who would have the time to visit the mother and get paid by the health system to do so, it would be ideal for everybody, but that is not what is happening. Therefore, breastfeeding is still, more or less, a middle-class pursuit. That is just the way of it, really.