Minister for Health Ryan Park has told Illawarra mothers the new Shellharbour Hospital will eventually have birthing services, but says the local health district cannot yet safely staff units at both Shellharbour and Wollongong.
Mr Park, who is also Member for Keira, was pressed for a timetable at a Better Births Illawarra forum at Dapto Ribbonwood Centre on Friday, November 6, where women questioned sitting MPs and NSW election candidates about the lack of a birthing unit and the pace of reforms following the state’s birth trauma inquiry.
“I can assure you Shellharbour Hospital will eventually have birthing services,” Mr Park said.
He told the forum he spoke to Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District CEO Margaret Martin that week and was advised there were too few staff to split between Wollongong and Shellharbour hospitals.
“I just can’t have a situation where two sites are short. [We] can’t do that safely,” he said.
The new hospital, part of an $828.9 million project, is due to be completed in late 2027. It will offer antenatal and postnatal care, including midwifery-led clinics and home visits. In July, Mr Park told the Illawarra Mercury the building would have space for a future birthing unit.
Women asked what the lack of a unit meant for families who would still have to travel to Wollongong or Shoalhaven to give birth.
Member for Shellharbour Anna Watson said she had long advocated for a unit and agreed the new hospital should have one.
“The space is there, the wing is there. It will be open, but it won’t be open until it is safe to do so,” she said.
Independent candidate for Keira, Kylie Flament, said the government was “asking the wrong questions” about risk. She said it also needed to consider the consequences of women in labour having to travel further to give birth.
“We’re trying to create a perfectly risk-averse hospital environment, but forgetting that if we don’t have a birthing suite that is adequate, worst outcomes will be had.”
Greens candidate for Wollongong, Malika Reese, Member for Wollongong MP Paul Scully and NSW Socialists candidate for Wollongong Ryan Chapman, understood the issues affecting the community.
Better Births President Sharon Settecasse said after the panel that hospital culture needed to change to retain midwives.
“We’ve heard over many years that there is an issue with the culture in hospitals, the way midwives are treated, and how the power is distributed between midwives and doctors. The problem isn’t recruitment; it is retaining midwives so they stay,” she said.
“Better Births Illawarra are calling for a midwife-led birth centre for Shellharbour families.”
Following the event Mr Park said he was ‘throwing everything’ at recruitment and retention.
“One of the biggest challenges we face in regional, rural and remote areas is recruiting and retaining health workers, which has not been helped by over a decade of wage suppression by the former Coalition Government,” he said.
“We’re throwing everything we can at recruitment and retention, including delivering record wage increases for nurses and midwives, doubling rural health incentives for critical and hard to fill roles; investing $200.1 million in key health worker accommodation; and introducing study subsidies for regional health workers.”
Calls for faster birth trauma reforms
The panel was also asked what could change for women before the March 2027 election, following the NSW birth trauma inquiry, which received more than 4,000 submissions and made 43 recommendations in 2024.
The inquiry called for wider access to continuity of midwifery care and a review of how clinicians seek informed consent for interventions during birth.
Mr Park credited Better Births Illawarra’s advocacy as he outlined plans for statewide training in trauma-informed maternity care. He said a tender process was underway for what he described as a first-of-its-kind program, part of a $44 million maternity services package.
“It was very clear that training of health professionals was a significant gap,” he said.
He also pointed to the expansion of Midwifery Group Practice in Wollongong. The model provides care through a known midwife or small team, and Mr Park described it as the benchmark he wanted to expand across NSW.
Animal Justice Party candidate for Keira, Tim Lavers, backed Midwifery Group Practice and Birthing on Country, saying consent about what happens during labour “needs to be continual and really well informed”.
Ms Flament said the inquiry had already set out what needed to change, including more choice over where and with whom women give birth, better postnatal care and clearer complaints processes.
“It would be my role as an independent in parliament to make sure that government follows their own promises,” she said.
Following the panel, Illawarra Women’s Health Centre CEO Jess Davidson called for faster action on the inquiry’s recommendations.
“Women told their stories, often at great personal cost, and the inquiry’s recommendations backed up what they had been saying for years. What we heard tonight is that action isn’t happening fast enough. Women having babies now deserve to see those recommendations reflected in their care,” she said.
One woman brought the discussion back to the women who would give birth while those changes were still being worked out.
She told the panel she, her daughter and generations of women in her family had been born in the Illawarra.
“Would you be comfortable right now with their care?” she asked. “And if you wouldn’t be, what would you change?”