Have you got your $900 stimulus money yet? Cheques are now arriving in letterboxes and the Government is hoping that we will spend, spend, spend, to keep the economy afloat. There is even a surprising difference between the sexes, with new research showing that men will head to the shops in greater numbers than women.
Whatever largesse the Federal Government is currently spreading around, this will clearly come to a screaming halt with the Federal Budget in two weeks. Already ministers are doing the media rounds, preparing us for 'the pain to come', softening up high income earners for tax increases, and talking down expectations. This is nothing new; on Budget Night, most of us will breathe a sigh of relief and proclaim that it wasn't that bad.
Despite this, some forms of middle class welfare are clearly in the Government's sights. Talk abounds of the possible demise of the $5,000 baby bonus, the one-off cash payment to families on the birth of a child. Recent research suggests that its introduction played an important part in the rise of Australia's birthrate after 2005.
Peter Costello's 'one for the country' quip put the issue of population on the national agenda and this, combined with extra financial support and a confidence in the economy, happily resulted in an increase in the national birthrate.
Unfortunately, the Labor Government has been slowly winding back the baby bonus, with means testing and other measures. There appears to be no overarching population policy.

As Christians, we should support the baby bonus because it affirms the bearing of children as an important long-term social and economic priority. With some proof now emerging that financial support at birth influences reproductive choices, policies like the baby bonus are needed more than ever in these difficult times.