FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
23 September 2026
Pronatalism Australia has called on the Australian Government to invest $5,000 at birth for every Australian child, after Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Monday that a return to the Howard-era baby bonus was “not on the cards”.
The organisation said its ‘Babyannuation’ proposal – akin to superannuation for young families – would cost a fraction of the payments now being argued over, and would still be working generations from now.
Under the Babyannuation scheme the Government would place $5,000 in a low fee investment account for every newborn, have it compound over 30 years, which the recipient could then draw on once they have a child of their own.
Founder Andrew Glover said the debate since the Intergenerational Report had narrowed to cash bonuses or childcare subsidies, with nothing structural in between.
“Katter’s Australian Party wants to give $75,000 to new parents and the Government has ruled out handing over anything,” Mr Glover said. “A baby bonus can be abolished after an election cycle, but an invested account in a child’s name is much harder to take away.”
With around 300,000 births a year, the scheme would cost about $1.5 billion annually, in contrast to the $22 billion estimated for Katter’s Australian Party scheme.
“Five thousand dollars invested at birth and growing at six per cent is worth around $29,000 at age 30, which is about the age Australians are having their first child,” Mr Glover said. “That is serious money arriving when it is needed, for a fifteenth of the cost.”
Mr Glover said childcare arrived too late to affect whether a first child happened at all.
“Childcare helps parents who already have children. It does very little for a couple living in a rental who cannot see how they would afford the first one,” Mr Glover said. “The decisions that set Australia’s birth rate get made years before anyone looks at a childcare fee.”
Pronatalism Australia called on the Government to commission modelling on the idea.
“Superannuation helps Australians prepare for retirement. Babyannuation would help them prepare for a family,” Mr Glover said.
Media Contact
Andrew Glover, Founder, Pronatalism Australia
Email: info@pronatalismaustralia.org
Web: www.pronatalismaustralia.org