Tony Abbott calls for middle class women to have more children
Tony Abbott has called for middle class women to have more children, claiming Australia’s “out-of-control” migrant intake has affected wage growth negatively.
Speaking at the launch of a new book by his former chief economist Andrew Stone in Sydney on Tuesday, the former prime minister said the current rates of childbirth among working women were a “real problem” and that conservative governments should encourage this group to have more children.
“That is a real problem in every western country: middle class women do not have enough kids. Women in the welfare system have lots of kids,” Abbott said.
“If you’re very wealthy you can afford to have as many kids as you want.”
In 2015, Abbott axed get his paid parental leave scheme after the policy failed to get through the Parliament.
Abbott said at the Centre for Independent Studies that “time would come” for such policy to be established in Australia.
Abbott also said the government should not support immigration at “any numbers”.
“Having got illegal migration under control, legal migration is virtually out of control,” he said.
The former Liberal Party leader claimed universities’ pursuit of foreign students and businesses’ use of overseas temporary workers led to congestion and reduced wages.
“Almost every one of them is going to make a fine Australian, but that doesn’t mean that it is necessarily in our interests, as people who are already here, to constantly ratchet the numbers up and up and up just so we keep headline economic growth in positive terms,” Abbott said.