I’ve been telling young people this forever. Have kids. They are our hope for the future.
Deadset proof we are investing in eternity. Now, our fertility rate is the lowest it’s ever been and shows no signs of bounceback. The Australian birth rate is the lowest it’s ever been.
Credit: Getty Images There are good reasons for the decline. People are freaked out about money. Worried about climate.
There is no sign our polity will ever return to a sign of engaged democracy, nor to a political process where differences were respected and dealt with. And you can’t nest when there’s no safe place to make a nest. Nearly two-thirds of Australian renters now believe they will never own their own home , says the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.
Which would be fine if renting in this country was governed by principles of decency and kindness, instead of unrestrained rapacity. Sure, Europeans have been renting forever, but in general there are regulations that stop landlords behaving badly. The institute insists we need a significant reset on tax and housing systems, which right now shelter and grow our money better than they shelter and grow our families.
The decline in the birthrate is hardly a shock – but I reckon it says something much worse about our national mindset. It means we have no hope for the future. We’ve given up on anything that matters.
We don’t think we should invest in decades ahead. When I read a few years back that David and Emma Pocock .