Midwifery
We engage in national advocacy to strengthen the midwifery workforce, advance the profession and position midwives as the optimal providers of maternity care.
Over 15,000 midwife members of the ANMF benefit from access to professional indemnity insurance, collective bargaining power, and national advocacy efforts.
The Australian Nursing Federation changed its name to the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation in 2013 to recognise midwifery as a separate profession from nursing and acknowledge the specialised skills, and knowledge of midwife members. The ANMF employs midwives at Federal and state and territory branch levels to represent the professional and industrial interests of our midwifery members.
Midwives who are employed across the branches and the Federal Office of the ANMF form the Midwifery Officer’s Network, a collaborative group established to discuss issues facing midwives and ANMF members around the country. Through the work of the Network and midwives across the Federation the ANMF is better placed to advocate for better working conditions and professional advancement for midwives.
The ANMF has recently announced funding for researchers at La Trobe University to undertake a national midwifery workforce study - The FUSCHIA study: Future proofing the midwifery workforce in Australia. The aim being to gather accurate, up to date evidence regarding the health and wellbeing of the Australian midwifery workforce and inform future advocacy on behalf of midwives.
The ANMF campaigned for the Commonwealth Prac Payment, and continues to advocate for equitable paid student placement payments which reflect the complexities of student midwives completing on-call continuity of care experiences.
