Australia Paying Citizens to Procreate

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Australia Paying Citizens to Procreate



CANBERRA, Australia (AP) ? Facing a falling birth rate, the Australian government has a simple message: Go forth and multiply. It's prepared to pay new parents who take up the call.



"Come on, come on, your nation needs you," Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday, when asked about a one-time $3,000 Australian ($2,100 U.S.) payment for all new mothers announced by Treasurer Peter Costello in the annual budget.



On Tuesday night, a smiling Costello urged reporters in Canberra: "You go home and do your patriotic duty tonight."



The father of three suggested that two children per couple wasn't quite enough to combat the effects of an aging population and declining birth rate in this sparsely populated nation of 20 million.



"If you can have children, it's a good thing to do. You should have ... one for your husband, one for your wife, and one for your country," Costello said.



Compiled by Foxnews.com's Paul Wagenseil.



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I'm sorry Australia obviously has the U.S. plainly beat as the best place to live on the planet. Great beer, good water sports, and now you can get paid to f*ck.







Nick

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by trumptman

    Australia Paying Citizens to Procreate





    I'm sorry Australia obviously has the U.S. plainly beat as the best place to live on the planet. Great beer, good water sports, and now you can get paid to f*ck.







    Nick




    Indeed. Australia is way up there on my list of countries I'd be willing to live in.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    Hmm. Why not just encourage immigration?
  • Reply 3 of 11
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ShawnJ

    Hmm. Why not just encourage immigration?



    Immigrants are bad.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ShawnJ

    Hmm. Why not just encourage immigration?





    LOL they ain't paying for half castes. They want full bread Aussies.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ShawnJ

    Hmm. Why not just encourage immigration?



    I'll make this plain.



    You're a politician.



    You've got two choices, both of which you can use to trumpet why you should be re-elected.



    Choice "A" is that you are going to allow record immigration of people who inconvenience you.



    Choice "B" is that you can go home and announce to the people that you represent that they will get paid for screwing their brains out and making kids.



    Which one are you going to choose?



    Nick
  • Reply 6 of 11
    crazychestercrazychester Posts: 1,339member
    Yes this is just a bunch of sleazy politicians (correction: another bunch of sleazy politicians) trying to get themselves re-elected. Personally, I wouldn't spit on either Howard or Costello if I passed them in the street because it would be a waste of good saliva.



    And yeah we could boost the population by immigration. In fact, we've got a bunch of people locked up in detention centres right now who'd be more than happy to increase our numbers and, what's more, they'd gladly go live in all those big empty spaces the rest of us don't want to know about as we valiantly cling to a few coastal outposts. They probably wouldn't mind getting a few of their human rights back either.



    But of course, beneath the "fair go" mentality is an ugly racism that is just as narrow-minded and selfish as racism anywhere else on the planet.



    We used to be a country with a sense of common decency. With a bit of luck, we might get some back if we're smart enough not to be bought off by Howard and his cronies.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    It is a little bizarre to say the least...
  • Reply 8 of 11
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by trumptman

    The father of three suggested that two children per couple wasn't quite enough to combat the effects of an aging population and declining birth rate in this sparsely populated nation of 20 million.



    "If you can have children, it's a good thing to do. You should have ... one for your husband, one for your wife, and one for your country," Costello said.




    The Aussies have forgotten the global thinking it seems.



    We are 6,5 BILLION people on earth. (Which is by the way my reason nr 1 to not multiplicate)



    The Chinese way : 1 kid for your country = 1 kid for you = 1 kid for your spouse.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hmurchison

    LOL they ain't paying for half castes. They want full bread Aussies.



    Like all the 100 % actual Aussies of Italian, Greek, Chinese and UK origin. ( = 80 % of the Aussies)
  • Reply 10 of 11
    OMFG. Is this serious? Fear of declining national-racial stock. Welcome back 19th century.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by SonOfSylvanus

    OMFG. Is this serious? Fear of declining national-racial stock. Welcome back 19th century.



    First, this is partly about the perceived disadvantage in becoming a parent. The idea is that new parents are unfairly disadvantaged: if they work, all the money goes into childcare. If they don't work, they get no money at all. This is (claimed) to partially correct that.



    Now, onto "national-racial stock". Obviously you haven't been to Australia recently. We don't have "national-racial stock". It's that simple. And at the moment we have record levels of immigration.*



    Of course, when you get down to it, it's just money to get Howard and co re-elected.



    Barto



    * Yes the treatment of asylum seekers is despicable but we still have record levels of "legal" immigration.
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