<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>331138</docID> <postdate>2024-10-17 10:22:19</postdate> <headline>No rebirth of baby bonus despite falling fertility rate</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-331139" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20130326000668711207-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Australia's fertility rate has plunged to a record low. (Tracey Nearmy/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Andrew Brown</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>A revival of the baby bonus is not being considered despite Australia's fertility rate plummeting to a record low.</strong></p> <p>Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the fertility rate dropped to 1.5 babies born per woman.</p> <p>There were just under 287,000 births registered in Australia in 2023, the lowest level since 2006.</p> <p>The fertility rate, the average number of children a woman has over the course of her life, has steadily been on the decline for the past three decades, the bureau said.</p> <p>The rising cost-of-living and housing prices have been cited as factors behind the falling number of births.</p> <p>But Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the federal government was not considering reintroducing the baby bonus to boost the fertility rate.</p> <p>"It's not something that we've been discussing. I'm interested, obviously, in the figures," he told Seven's Sunrise program on Thursday.</p> <p>"We want to do what we can to make it easier for families and couples to have children and we are doing that. It is important that we have a sustainable birth rate."</p> <p>The baby bonus was set up by the Howard government and gave $3000 lump sum payments to new parents of children born from July 2004.</p> <p>Then-treasurer Peter Costello urged families to "have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country".</p> <p>Mr Marles said the government was focused on cost-of-living measures for families.</p> <p>"What we are focused on is ways in which we can make it more affordable to raise a family," he said.</p> <p>"A huge focus of the prime minister, the whole government has been on more affordable childcare, which makes a difference in terms of the ability to have children and raise children.</p> <p>"It's obviously an expensive thing to have kids, we all know that, but we are doing everything within our power to make that more affordable for Australians."</p> </body>