I was able to chose this option as a fluke from living in the right postcode. The state government originally funded a midwife practice to run for indigenous mothers in the area and when there weren't as many of them they expanded it to include other mothers in certain postcodes.
All of my antenatal care was through my midwife's practice and one of the midwives from the practice was there for my entire labour (they're only allowed to work for 12hr shifts so they swapped and my main midwife managed to be back just in time for both of them to be there for the actual birth).
I have private health insurance but the only way I was allowed under this model of care was as a public patient - to book in as a private patient I had to go under an Obstetrician.
I ended up with an emergency c-section in the end, but the care from my midwives from start to finish was nothing more than brilliant. Not only that, the only reason I got to have my son in recovery with me was because my midwife was there and thus there was a nurse for the baby. Normally that isn't the case and they're not staffed for infants so the mothers are in there alone.
I'll also say that the post-operative care on the wards was abysmal and the only decent care I got was from midwife who came to check on me every day and a night nurse that was there for one night.
I am not a good candidate for a VBAC, so I'm staring down the barrel of a scheduled cesarian for any future births and that means I have to go under an Ob, but I'll be trying damned hard to find a practice that will allow me to have shared care with a midwife team again.
Edited for clarity - the midwife unit was attached to the hospital as one of their modes of care, so while all my antenatal and postnatal checks were done with the midwife group (and my labour would have been only attended by them had it all gone to plan) it was still attached to the Birthing Centre at the hospital, so I never had to chose between midwife only or hospital care
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