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| Down Under |
| Australia celebrates baby boom |
| 2006-06-03 |
| Australia's government has claimed the credit for a baby boom, after a government campaign encouraged people to have more children. The country had 261,400 births in 2005, the highest number since 1992, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. Treasurer Peter Costello urged Australians to have more children two years ago, concerned about the country's ageing population. He introduced tax breaks for non-working parents and other payments. As part of the drive, he called for parents to "have one for mum, one for dad, and one for the country". Mr Costello conceded on Friday that the birth rate, up 2.4% on the previous year, also reflected the good economic conditions Australia is enjoying. "The number of births also reflects a growing level of confidence in Australia's future, the fact that families have been experiencing a high level of economic security under the coalition government," he said. Many developed countries have experienced a dipping birth rate in recent years. On Thursday, Japan announced its national fertility rate, which measures the number of children an average woman is expected to give birth to over her lifetime, dropped to a record low of 1.25 in 2005. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #6 Oz's Lebs channel Dire Straits: "Money for nothing and your chicks for free." |
| Posted by: mac 2006-06-03 18:50 |
| #5 Union rules. The weakest link in the chain deserves the most. Protect the weak, encourage the able to give up and do no more than the weakest. Free money for all and no work. That's the ticket. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 2006-06-03 14:15 |
| #4 The worst people breed the most. Go to Lakemba see the Muslim women with 7 kids hanging off them us taxpayers giving them baby bonuses for each one as they outbreed us. Go to an Aboriginal community - one grandmother at 60 had 99 grandchildren. Her sister 98. She had 9 siblings. Never worked a day in her life. Nor had any of her kids and grandkids. They don't speak English properly either, only broken as a 3rd language. My taxes pay their cradle to grave welfare. |
| Posted by: Anon1 2006-06-03 12:51 |
| #3 Death to double posters, free Mumia! |
| Posted by: 6 2006-06-03 07:32 |
| #2 As part of the drive, he called for parents to "have one for mum, one for dad, and one for the country". I for one am not worried, I already know the words to |
| Posted by: 6 2006-06-03 07:31 |
| #1 As part of the drive, he called for parents to "have one for mum, one for dad, and one for the country". Yikes! I for one already know the woids to |
| Posted by: 6 2006-06-03 07:29 |