It's a good point that a midwife led unit would (should) be cheaper and cost tax payers less. Unfortunately, in reality the government would impose so many restrictions and regulations that it would end up being an expense nightmare.

But it shouldn't be. The government is just rubbish and makes everything 10 times more complicated. Here's a local case of government-gone-stupid:

On the Gold Coast the government just stripped every hospital of their ability to provide labour or birthing spas until they write up all their procedures and methodologies which is both time consuming and costly for hospitals. The public-funded birth centre managed to get their procedures written so they got their plugs back (the government took away the spa plugs). I was planning on using the labour spas at my private hospital for pain relief but it's not an option any more.

I agree that midwife options and homebirth options should be easily available in Australia without restrictions, but the reality is they cost so much because of the government regulations. So I'm not advocating doing away with midwives or homebirths, I advocate doing away with government and that should solve everything. I would like my private health fund to cover homebirths.

Oooh I just had a thought. I was a technical writer for government back in the day (ahhh now it all falls into place). I should offer my services to the private hospitals to write up their spa procedures for them. Don't think I could do it in under 7 weeks, though. Not enough time for me to get back my spa privileges.