Canberra, Australia
Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said this week that the government would start giving cash bonuses to women for having more babies. Every baby born after June 30 will net its mother $2,000. The new incentive was unveiled in an election-year budget that Australian papers have dubbed the “erection budget.” Costello said the measure is necessary to ensure that Australia will continue to produce enough taxpayers to support the aging population. “You go home and do your patriotic duty tonight,” he told reporters. Costello, a father of three, said three was the ideal number of kids: “One for your husband, one for your wife, and one for your country.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How clean-air efforts may have exacerbated global warmingUnder the Radar Air pollution artificially cooled the Earth, ‘masking’ extent of temperature increase
-
September 14 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include RFK Jr on the hook, the destruction of discourse, and more
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
