What happens when maternity services start disappearing from rural towns? For Alecia, it wasn’t a question, it was her reality. In this episode, Jen Laurie chats with Alecia from the Maternity Consumers Network (MCN), whose passion for improving maternity care started close to home and quickly turned into a statewide movement.

Back in 2020, MCN launched the Bush Babies campaign in Queensland, an 18-month push to protect and restore maternity services in rural communities. What started as a local fight became a catalyst for real change, helping to reopen facilities and bring national attention to the growing gaps in rural care.

Alecia shares what it’s like to raise your voice from a small town, and how she’s helped build MCN into the largest maternity consumer organisation in the country. From the challenges of accessing respectful care to the emotional impact of birthing far from home, this conversation is real, raw, and full of heart.

She also talks about the groundbreaking Respect for Maternity Care training that MCN created, now delivered in over 50 maternity services around Australia. Backed by the federal government, it’s helping change the way providers support women during birth and beyond, with a focus on reducing trauma and increasing informed consent.

Alecia’s story is proof that big change can start in small places, and that women’s voices, when amplified, can reshape systems.

In this episode, we cover:

• How the 2020 Bush Babies campaign helped spark statewide change
• The real-life impact of losing local birth services
• Why respectful, trauma-informed care matters—and how it’s being taught across the country
• The importance of community-driven advocacy
• Alecia’s role in launching a publicly funded home birth pilot on the Sunshine Coast

This one’s for anyone who cares about birth, equity, and making sure rural families aren’t left behind. Don’t miss it.

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