I wonder when men will start voting for themselves, before they lose their children.

“The ALP needs to focus more on the many women and childless couples…”

What about single men?

I find it very strange that the author is really only concerned about women in the context of having kids later in life or not at all, or of not being willing to support the strong political bias towards working families.

But yes, it is high time that the ALP broadened its perspective and moved away from this ‘working families’ diatribe.

The amazing and utterly disgusting push by the State for women to have babies where they may not have done so, or to have more kids than they would otherwise have done so is….well…utterly disgusting.

As well as the fact that we most definitely do not need a boost in our birthrate, we most definitely need childless people and one-child families and single parents to be appreciated as being just as valid as the larger family.

I mean, how dare the State devalue those who choose to have no kids and place pressure on them to reproduce! That is downrightly disgusting….especially when there is absolutely no reason why we need to boost our population, and every reason why we need to stabilise it!

It’s time for the baby bonus to go….and perhaps be replaced by a reward scheme for those who reach the age of 50 without having bred!

Yet we all need the babies, who will become the service sector when we grow old.

Even those who have no intention of having children of their own should be able to see that life will be tough in retirement if there are insufficient younger people around.

What's needed is an public information campaign illustrating what life would be like in the future if we do not support families now.

I don't know who it was that sung it but 'It's all about me'

I would like to see proof that women – or anyone – actually votes Greens one, Liberals two. This voting pattern would really defy logic. The two parties a miles apart on everything, and it is usual to give second preferences to the party you would like to see in if your first choice doesn’t make it.

The idea of free markets and deregulation mixed with environmental concerns might be possible with the Coalition, or even Labor, but certainly not with the Greens. Anybody thinking otherwise clearly hasn’t got the message.

As for the really wild one about the Green vote getting ahead of the Liberal vote – well, what has this Black person been smoking? Does he think that so many Australians want to live in caves, rubbing sticks together to light fires?

It is very doubtful that single or childless women are as silly as this author seems to think. It is pure speculation that their voting patterns – and it is quite arrogant to deem that these women vote as a block – reflect what they think about ‘working families’, baby bonuses, or anything else but what private thoughts and beliefs dictate.

Australia had been overpopulated since the days when we had around 13 million people. It’s very strange that both major political parties, wanting to blame human activity for climate change, hand out baby bonuses and continue with large scale immigration. The Greens have backed down on their original population policy, and no longer seem different from the other two.

The baby bonus should be scrapped, and so should high immigration.

In the meantime, it’s good that there are women and men out there who are not adding to the population.

"I would like to see proof that women – or anyone – actually votes Greens one, Liberals two. This voting pattern would really defy logic. "

It makes good sense if you don't think the Greens have any chance of taking the electorate you are in but you want to send a message to the Libs that you disagree with some of their directions but not enough to vote Labor. Not an ideal way of sending a message but pollies don't seem to care much about voter feedback except for votes.

The Libs (and Nats) seem to have been overrun by the religious right, a direction that many of their traditional voters are unhappy with but not so unhappy as to want Labor in power. Green first, Lib second is one of the more accessable ways of getting that message across.

Be more liberal in social policy but keep up economic management does not have a checkbox on the ballot paper so people improvise.

R0bert