Womens choices? .... "WOMENS" choices?x500

Talk about red rag to a bull.....

Gooood grief. That alone is enough to consign the mentality of the author into the social waste basket.

NEWSFLASH.. "having children is not about "WOMENS"....choices...its about FAMILY choices.. or jolly well should be. 100% of the time.

It takes 2 to make a baby, and as surely as day follows night it takes more than ONE to raise one. (and keep your sanity and peace)

YES.. HAVE MORE BABIES.. "families" have more babies. Men..WITH Women.. TOGETHER... have more babies, as families.

YES.. have more babies because we are not reproducing enough to even replace ourselves at present. (we=western nations generally)
Aside from the obvious "We are dying out but just don't know it yet" there is also the more dangerous "We are demographically becoming weak and once we reach a certain point it will be too late to fix it"

Phanto’s got it exactly right. Nobody should have a baby for the country, for Peter Costello, for $5000, for Kevin Rudd, for your mother-in-law or for anybody or anything else. You should have a baby because you really want to have that relationship and share your life with your child.

A second point, but not nearly as important, is that the two premises for increased birth rates are wrong.

“First, our economy will face the incredible task of paying for a burgeoning health and welfare budget brought about by an ageing population, but with a smaller workforce.”

As many have mentioned, the task is not incredible, it is easy compared to raising children. Secondly the economic problems of an ageing population are trivial compared to the economic problems of depletion of fossil fuels, degraded land, dwindling water supplies and increased pollution, all of which are harder to solve with a big population than a small population.

“Secondly, if our economy continues to grow in the same way it has over the past 10 years for the foreseeable future, our economic capacity will be further constrained by a smaller workforce.”

This is straight from Costello’s copybook. The lie is that per capita wealth does not grow with a growing population only the overall economy of the whole country. That makes Costello look good but does nothing for the average punter. In fact he has to work harder to get the same income according to the Productivity Commission. Besides that lie, the "economic capacity" of Australia grows with increases in productivity, increases in the skills of the population, not just raw numbers. If we spent the Baby bonus on training and education we would see a real increase in per capita wealth. The average guy would get richer and have a better, more sustainable lifestyle.

Of course, the average guy getting richer and having a better, more sustainable lifestyle is not a suitable policy goal for any political party.

ERICC said: (quoting Costello)

“First, our economy will face the incredible task of paying for a burgeoning health and welfare budget brought about by an ageing population, but with a smaller workforce.”

DEMOGRAPHIC/POLITICAL CODE.
Ericc.. it might also be a dimension of this quote, that it expresses a concern that in order to solve the 'aging population/shrinking workforce' situation; migration needs to increase.

If Migration increases, a demographic issue arises. "How might this change the cultural texture of Australia"? Well.. Cronulla is probably the standout example of what can go wrong.

Then there is the political aspect. "How might this alter the political balance"? Migration ALways has a political aspect. Coalition tries to emphasize 'business migration' while labor emphasises 'Skills' migration.
If you follow the 'predisposed voting patterns' of each group, you will, I believe find a political flavor :)

CONCLUSION. There are good reasons for us to have more children.

1/ Its a joy to bring a life into the world.
2/ Replacement of ourselves.
3/ Maintain demographic balance.
4/ Retain Political harmony and balance.

If one sub group has a higher fertility rate, coupled with a strong sense of isolated identity, over time this will impact seriously and negatively on the peace we now enjoy.

BOAZ_David:

Why do we have to replace ourselves? You didn’t suggest why.

Demographic issues should not be resolved by having children. If the cultural texture of Australia is changing for the worse then we should challenge those who are responsible for trying to change it. We stand up to people who do not value basic human rights and frustrate their agenda in as many ways as we can. As soon as they break the law we prosecute them and we control their behaviour in the same way we have done with every other wave of migration to this country.

If they are attempting to change things for the worse by higher fertility rates then we are only encouraging them by giving them baby bonuses and paid maternity leave and all the other benefits we give to parents. If they are attempting to change things by isolating themselves then we do everything in our power to stop that even if we end up having to legislate against ‘cultural cocoons’.

We stand up to all those negative attitudes and welcome the positive ones as enrichment to our own culture.

In the same way the problem of political harmony and balance should not be solved by having children. If any particular group seek to upset the harmony and balance then we should challenge them with reason and logic and legislation if necessary. We do not sit back passively while they take over the country.

We do not solve these threats by ‘outbreeding’ those we disagree with. If we can only solve these problems by having children then it does not say much for our problem solving skills.

Boaz, as an outspoken Christian man, I find your insistence in dividing the Human race, supposedly created by God, into Us and Them strange.

I suggest you go back and read especially the New Testament and the teachings of Christ more thoroughly. Be guided by what it says, not by what you would like it to mean.

This thread is not about dealing with the irrational fear of those fellow humans you put in the Others category.

The government really has very little to do with the decision for a woman to have a baby. Culture is the most important aspect of fertility, in my own experience, at least. Until recently, having children was seriously out of fashion.
Many gen-x women have suffered terribly as a result of that stifling cultural pressure to delay, delay, delay. Gen-x men as a group have had a very great - and yet surprisingly unacknowledged - role in applying this cultural pressure, covertly or overtly preventing a fair-playing female from doing 'what comes naturally' (to her).
The baby bonus was only important as a lever to shift thinking about the importance of family in our individual lives. The apparently compulsory, near-universal, adoption of the pill has really made it difficult for many women to 'get their acts together'.
Gen-Y girls seem to be learning from the experiences of their older sisters, perhaps they will be more streetsmart when it comes their time?