Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges:

(a) the release of the Government's Centre for Population research paper dated October 2024, Fertility decline in Australia: Is it here to stay?; and

(b) that the paper provides that:

(i) fertility rates in Australia continue to decline under this Government;

(ii) the average number of children born to Australian women in 2023 is 1.5;

(iii) in Australia fertility outcomes are lower than fertility desires;

(iv) cost of living pressures have caused Australians to postpone childbearing; and

(v) the high cost of housing has made it increasingly difficult for young adults to achieve their home ownership goals prior to starting a family;

(2) recognises that the Government has:

(a) failed to manage the economy, resulting in a period of skyrocketing inflation fuelling the current cost of living crisis;

(b) failed to address the housing affordability crisis; and

(c) been incapable of supporting a stable economic and housing environment to empower Australian women, resulting in the fertility decline to 1.5 children on average in 2023;

(3) expresses concern that the Government's economic and housing mismanagement have forced Australian women to delay having children, resulting in a decline in their fertility; and

(4) calls on the Government to better manage the economy and housing for the betterment of all Australians including Australian women and reverse the declining fertility rates.

In October of this year, the Government Centre for Population released its research policy and paper 'Fertility decline in Australia: is it here to stay?' That had some very troubling statistics in it and some very troubling news for us, as a country, going forward. Essentially, the paper provides that fertility rates in Australia continue to decline—they have continued to decline over the past 2½ years under this Albanese Labor government. The average number of children born to Australian women in 2023 was 1.5.

In Australia, fertility outcomes are lower than fertility desires. This means that Australian women want to have more children, but, because of a series of circumstances, are unable to. The two main reasons that were identified in the government's own research paper were cost-of-living pressures that have caused Australians to postpone child-bearing and the high cost of housing that has made it increasingly difficult for young adults to achieve their homeownership goals prior to starting a family. The impacts of longer-term low fertility on a country such as Australia are very significant, bearing in mind that we currently—despite our very large landmass—have a population of around only 25 million.

Over the past 30 years, the total fertility rates in Australia have continued to decline overall. There have been times when there were peaks—under the Howard-Costello government, for example, when the baby bonus was brought in. I'm very proud to say that I was one of the beneficiaries of that back in 2006, when I had my children James and Nicholas. Overall, fertility rates have declined, and they've taken a very sharp decline under this government. When we see why that is occurring, it has been sheeted home that it is the cost of living under this government. Most people that are trying to purchase a home or are paying off a mortgage have had 12 interest rate rises under this Labor government. The cost of housing has never been more expensive than it is under this government.

What we have seen is that, as one of the authors of the report, Ms Cho, said:

The long-term decline in fertility of younger mums as well as the continued increase in fertility of older mums reflects a shift towards later childbearing.

We may originally think—does it really matter if women are having their children a little bit later? It really does. After about the age of 32, for most women, their fertility starts to decline at quite a rapid rate. Some of the social, cultural and economic impacts of declining fertility include that we will see a much larger ageing population. We'll see a reduced working population. We'll see an increase in pressure on the healthcare system, challenges to our aged-care and our pension systems, and cultural and social change, because, if we are having our children later, there is less chance, for example, that children will have the advantage of having grandparents around them. For older Australians, there is less chance that they will, in fact, be able to have the joy of grandchildren.

So what do Australian women do? One of the other issues is, of course—I don't blame the government for this; I blame them for most of the other issues with fertility—that a lot of women these days simply do not meet their partner until they may be in their 40s, for example, which is often when their fertility is really going to struggle. What we have found over the past decades or so is a process of egg freezing. In that way, eggs are preserved when a woman is in a high-fertility part of her life, and then they can be utilised at a later date. But we need to do far more for women in that process. The process is not straightforward. It's expensive. It's prohibitive for most women.

I say that these fertility rate declines are a big problem and the Australian government needs to address this.

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