Breastfeeding MP defends hiring mum - theage.com.au Breastfeeding MP defends hiring mum

Friday 28 February 2003, 20:30PM

The celebrity Victorian MP who caused a scandal when she breastfed her baby in parliament this week has been forced to defend hiring her mother in her electoral office.

Former aerial ski-jumping champion Kirstie Marshall said her mother, Anne Marshall, was being paid $270-a-week for working part-time in her Forest Hill electoral office.

But she insisted her mother was never paid taxpayers' money to look after 13-day-old Charlotte, whom Anne Marshall baby-sits when parliament is sitting.

"My mother is a part-time electoral officer and a full-time granny - that's the job description," Ms Marshall told reporters outside her Blackburn South home.

"Everything has been done strictly by the books - no laws have been broken."