NationStates Jolt Archive

Australia's birthrate has been falling, badly. Our esteemed prime minister John Howard came up with the brilliant idea of paying $3000 to any woman (or girl) who had a baby after June 1st 2001. The idea being that the professional women would apparently find some incentive to quit their jobs and have babies, because they're getting a months pay! Next year, it's going up to $4000, with it set to peak at $5000 in 2008.

The single mothers and teen girls of Australia appear to have taken up this call to action with enthusiasm.

So I want to know what all the other Aussies out there think about it? Good, Bad, Indifferent?

Everyone else, feel quite free to comment.

wow. that really sounds fishy to me. I mean isn't it kinda like paying people to have sex or worse paying for babies? hmm. I don't really know what to say about it but, I think it is probably a bad idea.
but in America we get a 1000 tax credit per kid per year so I guess I can't really talk much.

Last statistic I saw suggest the coalition was bang on target with this policy, encouraging married middle class women to "have one for the country" not to mention cashing up (electorally) swinging voters.

One thought there would have been better ways they could go about this kind of thing; like make children tax deductable.

"have one for the country"

OMG, I'd forgotten about that speech:

One for the father,
One for the mother,
and one for AUSTRALIA

or something similar. funniest thing i'd ever heard!

well its only paying the women to have children, not to become mothers (or is it?). so either there'll be a massive rise in the nanny profession, a massive rise in the number of babies in orphanages, or lots of women will leave the workforce. probably all three to an extent unless the govt has built in specifics.

so, short term economic problem: lots of professional women leave the workforce to go have kids and become mums, leading to a fall in the general workforce and economic slump.

long term gain: more population 20 years down the line = rising economy (cetimus paribus)


i just hope it pays off otherwise australia's boned

Anybody who falls for that is a fool. If they think that the cost of having a child will be less than $4k over its life... Well.

If you guys are really short on people, I'm sure we (the UK) could start deporting criminals again ;)

Sounds like Nazi German reproduction policies! So, is there a bonus for having x-number of babies? :D

If you guys are really short on people, I'm sure we (the UK) could start deporting criminals again ;)
don't worry, australia! i'll come live over there on my own free will :) :)



please? ;)

I have a solution: MORE IMMIGRATION.

wow. that really sounds fishy to me. I mean isn't it kinda like paying people to have sex or worse paying for babies? hmm. I don't really know what to say about it but, I think it is probably a bad idea.
but in America we get a 1000 tax credit per kid per year so I guess I can't really talk much.Well, I know that there's money for having children in Germany that get's paid pretty much until they're out of school and I'm pretty sure that there's tax credit for it too. But this is because children cost money and while it is meant as an incentive to get children, it is meant to establish a "cost effective environment" and not a one time payment.

Sounds like Nazi German reproduction policies! So, is there a bonus for having x-number of babies?

No thank god there isn't.

If they think that the cost of having a child will be less than $4k over its life

unfortunately, we have the single mother's pension. So they go onto that.

Pure Metal, we'd love to have you. We take what we can get here. We just pretend we're better than that. :p

It sounds pretty dumb to me... Is it really one lump payment? Surely that would only be enough to appeal to young women who would be better off taking their time rather than rushing into having a baby.

And is this the same John Howard who was so desperate to avoid refugees coming to Australia that he paid Nauru to take them and made up riduculous stories about them throwing babies into the water?

Just think about how much money Australia saves with every adult immigrant. All that money that would get spent on raising a kid is saved. In addition, on top of the baby bonus Australian parents get money each month for each kid they have, extra money if they have their children fully immunized, and they get tax breaks.

Why doesn't he just decrease taxes by 5% for each child a married couple has? It would help defray the cost of a kid by more than $3000-5000, and the government wouldn't have to pay the money up front. Just collects less at tax time.

Anybody who falls for that is a fool. If they think that the cost of having a child will be less than $4k over its life... Well.

If you guys are really short on people, I'm sure we (the UK) could start deporting criminals again ;)
It's just an incentive, not intended to cover the cost of raising a child.