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Waters last year worked to change Senate rules to give new parents the option to care for their infants on the floor of Parliament, according to the Australian Associated Press.

The senator told the BBC World Service she wanted to \"send a message\" by caring for her daughter while on the job.

\"I had hoped to not only be able to feed my baby, but to send a message to young woman that they belong in the Parliament and that they can both be parliamentarians and be moms,\" she said in an interview that aired today.

Waters described the reaction as \"almost universally positive\" and said she was particularly touched by the messages of support from fellow moms.

\"Lots of women thanking me for doing it, not just for normalizing breast-feeding, which is itself an important issue because there is still a little bit of stigma in some corners of society,\" she told the BBC. \"But it’s been lovely to hear from the young women and the other moms who have said this is a role model for my young daughter or myself to know that we can aspire to these sorts of occupations.\"

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