A County Court judge has stood by his decision to ask a breastfeeding woman to leave a Melbourne courtroom.
On Thursday, Judge Mark Gamble asked the mother to leave the public gallery during a break in the high-profile trial of Malka Leifer, a former school principal facing child sex abuse charges.
The trial has reached a critical phase. Into its fifth week, prosecutors and defence lawyers are making their closing addresses to the jury.
The mother and her baby entered the courtroom when the jury was out of the room.
They sat silently in the corner of the room — a spot that was directly opposite the jury box but a considerable distance away.
When Judge Gamble returned to the bench, he told the woman she could be a "distraction".
"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 to the jury, at the very least," he said.
The mother immediately left the room.
The move, which reportedly left the woman in tears, angered parenting and women's rights advocates.
"This is quite a shock, that a mother has been asked to leave a courtroom," said Naomi Hull, the senior manager for breastfeeding information and research at the Australian Breastfeeding Association.
Breastfeeding is covered by Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act.
"If the baby is allowed, is permitted to enter a space, then they're protected to breastfeed," Ms Hull told ABC Radio Melbourne.
However, it is not clear whether the legislation applies to courtrooms — where people are forbidden from certain actions such as eating, drinking and wearing sunglasses or shorts, and everyone must display respectful behaviour to the judge.
Judge says direction was 'self-explanatory'
On Thursday, the County Court declined to comment.
Today, in front of the jury, the judge addressed the incident, which has made front-page headlines and led commercial television news bulletins.
"It is something that has attracted some media publicity and I think you need to know what I said and why I said it," Judge Gamble said.
Judge Gamble read out a transcript of his remarks, and said his direction to the woman was "self-explanatory".
"It is not a matter you should be giving any real consideration to going forward," he said.
Judge Gamble said the incident was "irrelevant" to the jury's task of closely listening to the closing addresses and reaching a verdict in the case.
During the trial, the judge has taken a strict approach towards people entering and leaving the courtroom during proceedings, taken aim at people whose phones have gone off, and criticised journalists for typing too loudly.
Minister says Attorney-General will raise issue with court
Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Ingrid Stitt, said she thought it was "extraordinary that this has happened at all".
"It's really disappointing," she said.
Ms Stitt she understood Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes would contact the court about the issue.
"I mean its 2023 for goodness sake, women should never be feeling that they can't feed their child, which is a perfectly natural and pretty basic thing in 2023," she said.
Director of the Australian Human Rights Institute, Professor Justine Nolan, said the incident should be used as an opportunity to educate people.
"It's … very unfortunate for this woman, who I'm sure felt very humiliated about the process," she said.
