small families

Limiting baby bonus payments to each woman’s first two children would mean that the majority of people with two or fewer children would not be subsidising those who choose to have larger families. It would also conservatively save over $2 billion in direct costs to taxpayers every year, not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars in infrastructure for each new person. William Bourke speaks up about the changes to the Australian baby bonus. The Stable Population Party has been formally registered with the Australian Electoral Commission since 2010 and its website is www.populationparty.org.au

Way back in the Howard Government dark ages, Treasurer Peter Costello got all the population figures wrong, famously claiming that immigration was the only thing keeping Australia's population growing, although at the time it was growing all by itself, as it continues to do. Only Mr Bracks, the then premier of Victoria, got it even more wrong, claiming that deaths outnumbered births in Victoria. (The opposite was true.) Then Kevin Rudd scared us all with his 'vision' of a much bigger Australia. Julia Gillard was elected in part by votes reflecting approval of her indicating that she did not think that a big Australia was such a great thing. In his ignorance, Peter Costello introduced the "Baby Bonus" an anachronistic device more usually associated with Hitler, Petain and CeauCescu. Since then we have continued to see higher and higher immigration and the continuance of the baby bonus. Now there are signs that Federal Labor may be taking its foot off the population growth accelerator.

SPP welcomes Labor's baby bonus reductions

The federally registered Stable Population Party (SPP)welcomes Labor’s reductions in the baby bonus from $5,000 to $3,000 for second and subsequent children, saving the nation $500 million per year, but believes the government should go further.

The community party is campaigning to stabilise Australia's population as soon as practicably possible, aiming for a population of around 23-26 million through to 2050, as well as providing leadership and support to other nations to help stabilise global population via a ‘domino effect’.

Continuous growth not a happy option

William Bourke, Founder and President of SPP explains:

“We live in a finite world and can’t grow forever. The sooner we adjust to a stable population, the easier it will be to manage growing scarcity of finite, non-renewable resources. Quality of life and intergenerational equity through the sustainable use of energy, food and water resources is our priority.”

The Stable Population Party agrees with a reduction in baby bonus payments, but proposes that governments should take this budget and finite resource-saving measure further. They advocate a broader strategy to encourage ‘replacement-size’ families. They urge government to limit both the baby bonus and paid parental leave to each woman's first two children. In addition, this law would apply only to births occurring more than nine months after it was passed.

“This policy would send out a much needed message that ‘replacement-size’ families are in the best interests of society as a whole in Australia, where continuing population growth is contributing to increasing housing shortages and planning pressures, traffic and transport congestion, energy and water security issues and unwanted carbon emissions. "

SPP say it is important that people understand that they, as a community party, do support families and freedom of choice on family size. They do not support, however, governments providing financial incentives to have large families.

They remind us that a stable population will ease cost of living pressures on families, including housing, water prices, energy prices and road tolls that are all driven up by population growth.

Save 2 billion a year and tons of infrastructure

“Limiting these payments to each woman’s first two children would also mean that the majority of people with two or fewer children would not be subsidising those who choose to have larger families. Finally, it would conservatively save over $2 billion in direct costs to taxpayers every year, not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars in infrastructure for each new person."

“If we’re serious about sustainable living and fiscal responsibility, a sustainable Australia starts with a stable population,” said Mr. Bourke.

ENDS
Contact: William Bourke, President | E: [email protected] | P: 02 9906 6720 / 0448 620 525
Stable Population Party policies represent our core values in action, being: Sustainable Living, Egalitarian Democracy, Fiscal Responsibility, Global Citizenship and Productive Innovation.