I WISH to bring up what is a sensitive subject to many, the “baby bonus”.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The baby bonus has been reduced, but by less than half.
I ask the question “Should it exist at all”?
Water and food security are becoming very serious issues; and the earth is straining under the weight of human overpopulation and demand for resources.
Earth’s population, standing at 7 billion now, is predicted to be 9 billion by 2050, but mankind is steaming down the railway track of life and history, knowing that, further down, the bridge is highly likely to be “out”.
Locally, Albury’s population hit 50,000 in 2009, and Wodonga’s population increased by a greater percentage than its sister city.
Melbourne surpassed 4 million in recent years.
According to David Attenborough, man is reproducing at 200,000 people a day, 70 million a year.
India alone increases its population by more than Australia’s population each year.
Common sense dictates that this will end in disaster.
Yet still, we have a baby bonus encouraging us to have children, and to have more children.
Does it make sense to sweep these cold, hard realities under the carpet?
— STEPHEN FRANZINI,
West Wodonga