The Next Big Political Battleground: The Family; Scotland Needs More People but, As Political Editor Douglas Fraser Finds, It Will Take More Than Words to Encourage Couples to Have More Children
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Summary
There should be one kid for dad, one for mom, one for the country and one for others who are not even replicating themselves, according to Peter Costello, Australia's finance minister. Explaining a budget last week packed with incentives for his countryfolk to make more babies, he instructed journalists, with customary Aussie bluntness: "Go home and do your patriotic duty tonight."
Demographics are becoming a big international issue. While some countries fret at population explosion, a key plank of policy in other countries from Australia to Scotland has been to up the kiddie quotient. Without that, baby boomers will not have enough working- age taxpayers to provide for health and social services in their retirement.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Next Big Political Battleground: The Family; Scotland Needs More People but, As Political Editor Douglas Fraser Finds, It Will Take More Than Words to Encourage Couples to Have More Children
One option, pushed by the Scottish Executive, is to attract "fresh talent" from elsewhere, as the relatively quick-fix solution. But the other part of the equation is to raise the birthrate. That is not merely a matter of policy: it is a profoundly personal choice. So the challenge is growing for politicians to "incentivise" parenthood.
The responses are threefold: to make it easier for mothers whose children are being brought up in poverty to get out to work and move out of poverty; to make it easier for parents ...See the full content of this document
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