Senator`s child removed from chamber

A Greens senator has had her crying child taken from her arms and removed from the
Senate chamber.
Sarah Hanson-Young took her two-year-old daughter, Kora, into the chamber for a vote
on Thursday evening.
But Senate President John Hogg ordered the child be removed.
"Senator Hanson-Young, you'll have to take the child outside for a division. We
can't allow children to be in here for a division," the Labor senator said.
Senate rules say that only senators and attendants are allowed into the chamber.
Some people think young children could disrupt the political process.
Australian Greens leader Bob Brown objected but Senator Hogg insisted.
The child, who was taken from her mother's arms by a staffer, became distressed and
cried loudly.
She was taken out of the chamber and the doors were locked for the vote, but her
cries could still be heard.
Senator Hanson-Young appeared distressed.
After the vote, which was on a ban on TV junk food advertising during children's
viewing hours, Senator Brown took Senator Hogg to task again.
Family First senator Steve Fielding backed him, saying "there could have been better
handling of that".
Senator Brown later said the parliament should be more infant-friendly and parents
should be encouraged to become politicians.
Forcing an infant to leave the chamber was an idea from the "horse and buggy age",
he said in a statement.
Babies had been brought into the chamber before and had not been disruptive. They
had brought "a great deal of pleasure for others in the Senate", Senator Brown said.
The Senate will debate the issue of children in the chamber on Monday.
While it is not allowed, there have been cases of politicians - including Senator
Hanson-Young, former Labor leader Mark Latham, and MPs Anna Burke and Jackie Kelly -
taking young children into federal parliament with them.
Babies are allowed into parliament to be breast fed after the rules were changed in
2003.