Karl Stefanovic weighed in on the ‘breastfeeding in public’ debate this morning on the Today show. The 48-year-old condemned Mark Gamble, a Melbourne judge who asked a mother to leave court after she breastfed her child in the public gallery.
“Judges have a lot on their plates, magistrates, it’s a terribly difficult job but I can’t help but think it could have been handled a lot better… How far have we come as a community to accept it [breastfeeding in public],” Karl said before adding:
WATCH: Karl Stefanovic’s daughter Harper forced to choose her favourite family members
“There are going to be people out there as sure as we are sitting here talking to you live, [saying,] ‘She could have gone somewhere else’. Come off it.”
Karl finished slamming Gamble by asking, “What is the big deal?”
For context, during a high-profile trial on March 9, Judge Gamble publicly asked a woman – who wishes to stay anonymous – to leave the court because she was breastfeeding her child and it was ‘distracting’.
“Madam, you will not be permitted to breastfeed a baby in court,” Gamble said.
“I’m sorry, I will have to ask you to leave. It will be a distraction to the jury, at the very least.”
Karl is not the only one outraged over the judge’s comments.
Queensland Senator Larissa Waters took to Twitter and wrote, “If I can breastfeed in Parliament, mums should be able to breastfeed anywhere. We definitely need more women judges – even breastfeeding ones!”
And Edwina Sharrock, founder and CEO of Birth Beat, said of the incident during an appearance on Today:
WATCH: Larissa Waters breastfeeding in Parliament
“I actually can’t fathom this either but it is so important that we do address this and call this behaviour out.”
“And in a public courtroom of all places. So we actually know the Anti-Discrimination Act says what happened there is illegal, so I think it is important that we just address this and say can we believe this is happening? What would be more distracting is probably a crying child who’s hungry,” Edwina continued.
Despite all the backlash, Judge Gamble has stood by his decision. Today in court he told jury members, “It should all be self-explanatory, members of the jury.”
“What I said was this, and I am reading from the transcripts: ‘Madam, you will not be permitted to breastfeed a baby in court. I’m sorry. I will have to ask you to leave. It will be a distraction for the jury at the very least. Thank you.’”
“I’m telling you this because it is something that has attracted some media publicity, and I think you need to know exactly what it was that I said and why I said it.”
“As I said a moment ago, I think that it is self-explanatory,” Gamble said before telling jury members that the whole incident is irrelevant to the case they are in court for.
“This is not something you will need to consider going forward,” Gamble concluded.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
