Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles rules out return of baby bonus despite falling fertility rate

A revival of the baby bonus is not being considered despite Australia’s fertility rate plummeting to a record low.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the fertility rate dropped to 1.5 babies born per woman.

There were just under 287,000 births registered in Australia in 2023, the lowest level since 2006.

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.

The rising cost-of-living and housing prices have been cited as factors behind the falling number of births.

But Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the federal government was not considering reintroducing the baby bonus to boost the fertility rate.

“It’s not something that we’ve been discussing. I’m interested, obviously, in the figures,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program on Thursday.

“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.”

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.

Then-treasurer Peter Costello urged families to “have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country”.

Mr Marles said the government was focused on cost-of-living measures for families.

“What we are focused on is ways in which we can make it more affordable to raise a family,” he said.

“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.

“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.”