Former Labor Minister Gary Johns suggests linking the dole to contraception
NO contraception, no dole - that's the view of an ex-Labor Minister who believes welfare should be linked to compulsory contraception. Gary Johns, writing in The Australian, suggests there should be ''no taxpayer inducement to have children".
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I'm not sure how I feel about this....
On the one hand, I was the 5th child of a couple who, in between the 4th and the 5th, slipped from working class to welfare class in the mid 1970's - so had such a policy been in place then, I would not exist now.
Now, at (almost) age 40 - married and childless (not by choice) I see my taxes going to prop up the living standards of those who have children. It is part of living in a society, I accept.
But it does appear that some people on welfare, well, to be blunt, it seems their only talent in life is that their loins work.
And I think there is something to be said for the concept of "the poverty cycle" - or to put it in layperson's terms, the concept that "the apple does not fall too far from the tree".
So.... is this (the prospect of linking benefits to contraception) just more government meddling? (a bit Orwellian, if you will)
Is it simply removing a few bricks from the welfare wall, that never should have got as big as it has?
Or is it something else?
NO contraception, no dole - that's the view of an ex-Labor Minister who believes welfare should be linked to compulsory contraception. Gary Johns, writing in The Australian, suggests there should be ''no taxpayer inducement to have children".
[More in link]
I'm not sure how I feel about this....
On the one hand, I was the 5th child of a couple who, in between the 4th and the 5th, slipped from working class to welfare class in the mid 1970's - so had such a policy been in place then, I would not exist now.
Now, at (almost) age 40 - married and childless (not by choice) I see my taxes going to prop up the living standards of those who have children. It is part of living in a society, I accept.
But it does appear that some people on welfare, well, to be blunt, it seems their only talent in life is that their loins work.
And I think there is something to be said for the concept of "the poverty cycle" - or to put it in layperson's terms, the concept that "the apple does not fall too far from the tree".
So.... is this (the prospect of linking benefits to contraception) just more government meddling? (a bit Orwellian, if you will)
Is it simply removing a few bricks from the welfare wall, that never should have got as big as it has?
Or is it something else?