An Austrialian official said that he was a major reason Austrialian people are having more children.
“Nobody has worked harder to improve birth rates than me,” Treasurer Peter Costello said during a television interview. He has three children of his own.
Australia was one of the few developed countries to see more people having children last year.
Costello says his government's family-friendly ideas, including a bonus of more than 4,000 Australian dollars (NT$106,859) for each newborn baby, were a major reason why more people had babies last year. The birth rate went from 1.73 to 1.8 babies per woman, the highest in 13 years.
Costello announced the bonus in 2004 and asked Australians to “go home and do your patriotic duty tonight.” He said people should have at least three children. His goal is 2.1 babies per woman which would keep the number of people in Australia the same.
(Jason Cox, Staff Writer with AP)
一名澳洲官員表示，他是澳洲人多生子女的主要原因。
財政部長彼得．科斯特洛在一場電視訪談中表示︰「沒有人比我更努力提升出生率。」他自己本身育有三個子女。
澳洲是去年少數幾個出生率提升的已
開發國家。
科斯特洛表示，他的親親家庭政策，包括提供每名新生兒超過四千澳幣（新台幣十萬零六千八百五十九元）的補助
，是去年澳洲人出生率提升的原因。出生率從每名婦女平均產育1.73提升至1.8，創十三年來新高。
科斯特洛在二○○四年宣布這項補助
計畫，並且要求澳洲人「今晚回家增產報國」。他表示每個家庭應該至少要有
三名子女，他的目標是每名婦女產出2.1名子女，以維持澳洲境內相同的人口數。
（美聯社╱翻譯︰鄭湘儀）
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