Victorian MP welcomes baby with Josh Burns
Federal Labor MP Josh Burns said the birth of the girl five days after the Bondi terror attack showed how important it was for Jews to feel safe in Australia.
Burns and Victoria Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell welcomed Lilah Poppy Purcell on Friday.
Lilah and Poppy represent purple and red flowers, the colors of the couple’s different political stripes, but the couple say this is a coincidence and not the reason behind either name.
He arrived early and weighed 2.56 pounds.
Burns, one of Labour’s most senior Jewish MPs, said last week he had gone through big ups and downs, with Lilah being born five days after the Bondi terror attack.
“My heart will always go out to my grieving community, but I’m also so grateful for Lilah’s arrival,” he said.
“The events of the past week have been extremely devastating, not only for my community but also for Australia more broadly.
“It showed us that we still have a lot to do to make Jews feel safe in their own country.
“I am determined to raise both my daughters to be proud of their Jewish heritage and proud to express it openly and safely in Australia.”
Purcell said Lilah was as impatient as her mother, who was born at 37 weeks and 5 days, but came at a time when her family needed her badly.
“Becoming a mother was never part of my plan, but in just a few days he showed me that I couldn’t imagine life without him,” she said.
“Lilah is a daily reminder to me that the decisions we make now will reverberate for generations.”
In a post on Facebook Monday evening, Burns said Purcell was a “superhero.”
“Her body stepped into being a loving and attentive mother right after a major surgery,” she said.
“Children are not born with hate. My daughters will grow up in a home where there is love, trust and kindness.”
Burns is the MP for Macnamara, a district in Melbourne’s inner south-east that has a large Jewish community.
His office has been a frequent target of vandals in the years since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent Israeli military offensive in Gaza that some international organizations have called genocide.
Purcell said Lilah was as impatient as her mother, who was born at 37 weeks and 5 days, but came at a time when her family needed her badly.
Prior to Lilah’s arrival, Purcell spoke in parliament about her experiences of being sexually harassed as a political staffer and politician in Spring Street.
Purcell is not the first Victorian MP to give birth while in office.
That club includes Ellen Sandell, the Greens’ current leader in Victoria. In 2018, Sandell became the first woman to breastfeed in parliament since Kirstie Marshall in 2003.
It was Marshall famously thrown out She was suspended from parliament for breastfeeding her 11-day-old daughter during a session.
Burns also has a daughter named Tia from a previous marriage.
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