“Baby, It’s a Bonus for All”

Herald Sun (Australia)
Babette Francis is National and Overseas Co-ordinator, Endeavor Forum, Inc.
July 7, 2004


What cantankerous carping from feline feminists who imply the $3000 baby bonus given by the Howard-Costello government to all mothers who have babies born from l July 2004 might be wasted on frivolous items or self-indulgence. They never raised this possibility when it was Mark Latham who offered a maternity payment to all mothers whether they were in the paid workforce or not; indeed he was praised by social commentator Bettina Arndt. However, when the payment becomes reality through Coalition policy, it appears beset by hypothetical problems - including delayed Caesarians!

My friend, Kath Woolf, founder of Pregnancy Support Services, Canberra, writes sardonically:

"Nothing seems to bring out the worst in human nature more than the prospect of the 'undeserving' getting some public benefit, especially if the undeserving are poor or otherwise burdened. The outcry over the prospect that young mothers might squander the $3000 baby payment is patronising and self-righteous.

"Anyone who has had a baby knows the cost of setting up house for this person. Of course these opportunistic mothers can manage on hand-me-down clothes and furniture; it would be wildly extravagant if they were to buy their baby something new - or perhaps some new clothes for themselves pre- and post-birth ...

"Do these same carping folk object to the funds which go to youth centres, drug-injection rooms, to abortions funded by Medicare? (Australia has the third highest rate of teenage abortions in the world). Let us affirm the worth of every mother and her baby and stop worrying ourselves that some few young ones might spend the grant not wisely nor well, in which enterprise they would only be acting in a great Australian tradition of over-indulgence in alcohol and gambling."

According to research by Southampton University, 40 per cent of pregnancies among British 15- to 17-year-olds end in abortion; in Australia it is approximately 50 per cent. If Costello's baby bonus enables socially disadvantaged women to continue their pregnancies, it will be an achievement.

Those who grudge mothers the payment, should realise it is the today's babies who will pay their pensions and health costs in the future. Australia's birth rate is below replacement level, and every baby is an asset, not a liability. German Chancellor Schroeder warns his electorate that social security will have to be modified "or market forces will do it for us". Translated, that means there are not enough workers to pay the pensions of those who are retired.

Among the magazines that comes across my desk is "Asia Pacific Perspectives - JAPAN" a glossy distributed by Japan Publications Trading Co. Ltd. Both the September and October 2003 issues dealt with the impact of Japan's birth dearth and its ageing society. The October cover says "Growing Older: The birthrate has dropped and people are living longer. What will happen as Japan's society ages?"

It has already happened - Japan, which prided itself on providing free medical care/insurance for all, is now being forced to consider a 30 per cent health care contribution from taxpayers. By 2010, one in 2.8 people will be 65 or older, and pension and social security programs will have approximately two people to support each elderly recipient. Since this "approximately two people" includes children, students and others who are not working, the burden on people who are working will be even greater. Japan is an example of a prosperous, developed country, which is facing serious economic problems because there are not enough babies to maintain the national workforce.

If Peter's Costello's baby bonus enables couples to have at least three children ("one for the father, one for the mother and one for our country" as the Treasurer intoned on Budget night, it will be a great initiative.

How rewarding to see the pictures in the Herald Sun of glowing mothers with their babies - both those who qualified for the baby bonus and those who did not, all saying the money was not important - their precious babies were.