New cover rules start on 1 January 2027
Homebirth insurance rules from 1 January 2027 could make professionally attended homebirth unavailable in parts of Australia, especially in rural and regional communities.
On 31 December 2026, the current professional indemnity insurance exemption for homebirth ends. From 1 January 2027, every privately practising midwife at a homebirth, including a second practitioner, must hold appropriate cover.
Maternity Consumer Network issued that warning on 3 August 2026 and called for urgent federal intervention before the exemption expires.
Under the government-backed Midwife Professional Indemnity Scheme, only eligible endorsed midwives can access support. MIGA is the sole provider of that insurance in Australia.
As a result, non-endorsed registered midwives who now attend homebirths as second practitioners have no practical or affordable path to cover from 1 January 2027.
Current NMBA rules already require a second registered health practitioner at a planned homebirth.
MIGA cover gap for second practitioners
Maternity Consumer Network founder Alecia Staines called the change a “regulation-created workforce cliff”.
“The Government set out to insure homebirth, but unless it urgently fixes the second-midwife gap, its solution will make professionally attended homebirth impossible in many Australian communities,” Ms Staines said.
In some rural and regional areas, hospital midwives, paramedics and nurses with neonatal resuscitation training fill the second practitioner role because there are not enough private endorsed midwives.
Under the new rules, a non-endorsed midwife in that support role would need endorsement to access the available insurance product. Paramedics and nurses cannot use that pathway.
Hospital-employed midwives who attend only a small number of homebirths each year may also find endorsement financially unrealistic.
Ms Staines described the outcome as a safety paradox, arguing that a reform meant to protect women and babies could remove registered health practitioners from births.
The endorsement standard now in force requires the equivalent of 5,000 hours of clinical practice in the previous six years, plus an approved postgraduate prescribing qualification.
During 2026, the NMBA consulted on removing the 5,000-hour rule. However, the briefing did not identify a final revised standard.
According to Maternity Consumer Network, private midwifery practices could close across Australia if second practitioners cannot get insurance after 31 December 2026.
The group also warned that freebirth rates could rise if registered health practitioners are pushed out of homebirth care from 1 January 2027.
Private homebirth commonly costs families between $6,000 and $7,500. Medicare rebates cover some antenatal and postnatal care and limited out-of-hospital labour care, but not the homebirth itself.
Ms Staines warned that any extra cost of finding and insuring second midwives would likely be passed on to women if practices remain open.
“Women will face fewer midwives, higher fees and longer travel distances. That is if they can find a midwife at all,” Ms Staines said.
Homebirth accounted for 0.7% of Australian births in 2023.
Maternity Consumer Network urged Federal Health Minister Mark Butler and the Australian Government to extend the exemption beyond 31 December 2026.
It also wants an urgent roundtable, a rule allowing a primary midwife’s insurance to cover a second practitioner under a documented arrangement, and a rural and regional workforce impact assessment before 31 December 2026.
